Favorite Mistake
by LostinOblivion
Summary: A child's first Christmas is a special time, and for Prentiss and Morgan, it's also hectic, stressful, and yet, sometimes beautiful. Morgan/Prentiss. Sequel to For the Child.
1. Chapter 1

_December 3, 2010_

"So, you said we're looking for how many outfits?" Garcia asked as they walked through the baby department at Macys.

Emily had Addy in an infant carrier on her chest, facing her the baby looking around with big eyes as she sucked on her pacifier.

"Uh, one for dinner with my mother, one for the team party, one for meeting Morgan's mother, and one for church on Christmas Eve." One hand rested on the back of the carrier, an unconscious protective instinct.

Garcia smiled. "That's right, Derek mentioned you guys were taking Addy to meet his family. He was all excited."

"I know, that's why you and JJ will have to pick that dress, I'll never be able to make a decision."

"Wait, you're not actually worried about it, are you?" Garcia stared at her incredulously.

"Of course, I'm worried. You know how attached Derek is, if his mother doesn't accept Addy, it will break his heart."

It was less Fran Morgan not accepting Addy that she was nervous about, but not accepting the adoption. A judge had signed the papers four days ago, and they hadn't told anyone, not yet. They wanted to wait until after Christmas at least. They needed time to get used to it, to be more secure about it, because it would involve another round of rumors and questions.

"What makes you think she might not? Addy's beautiful and a very happy baby, it's impossible not to adore her." To emphasize her point, Garcia smiled at the baby and wiggled one of her tiny little hands. "Besides, Derek's mother has been asking him for grandbabies for over a decade, she'll be thrilled."

"Addy isn't biologically his, and I don't know what her feeling is on that. Some people are funny about that, you know, family is blood and nothing else." She didn't think Fran would agree with that sentiment, but her son adopting an infant was a big deal.

"I doubt Fran Morgan is going to feel that way, besides I bet you she went through hell marrying a black man in the sixties and having his children. She's bound to be incredibly accepting after that."

Emily nodded. "You're right, but you and Jayje still have to pick that dress for me."

Garcia grinned. "Love to...alright, what kind of dinner are you doing with your mother?"

"Mother is always into formal dining, so she needs to look polished."

The tech raised an eyebrow at the adjective, but didn't ask. She went to a rack and started flipping. "What about you, what are you wearing to these occasions?"

"I don't know, I'll go through my closet." She shrugged.

Garcia turned to her. "You're not at all worried about you looking good?"

"My mother doesn't approve of me and likely never will, and Fran Morgan doesn't have to like me, she just has to like Addy." Emily flipped through a rack of dresses, not really looking at any of them.

"But, I'm sure it wouldn't hurt to make you look like a million bucks."

"I'm not that worried..." Emily finally focused on the baby dresses flying past her, and then turned to Garcia. "What are we looking at here? This is like infant prom clothes."

There was just way, way too much taffeta for her liking.

"What? Too fancy?"

"I'd like to avoid the ball gown look until she can actually walk."

Garcia rolled her eyes. "Cranky much?"

"These dresses would only be appropriate at the Kennedy's Christmas party."

She studied the very ornate dresses. "Alright, you may have a point there, let's move toward that rack."

"While we're discussing what I won't put her in, add blindingly bright colors, a lot of black, and tartan patterns," Emily said.

"Not a fan of the Scots, Em?"

"Their alcohol, but not their clothing choices."

"Oh, I hear that." Garcia picked up a dress then. "What about this one?"

It was dark blue on top, and on the bottom trim, light blue in the center with a subtle floral pattern. Emily took it and studied it. "I like it. This could be good for dinner with my mother. What do you think, white tights, and white shoes?"

"Or black. I doubt you'll find cute blue shoes."

"What did I miss?" They turned to see JJ approaching, pushing a stroller, where Henry was munching happily on a chicken nugget.

They both greeted her and cooed at Henry, who was too busy with his dinner to be bothered. Then Garcia took great pleasure filling her in on what they'd been discussing.

"You're really nervous?" JJ asked.

Emily answered with an uncomfortable wince. "I don't know how she'll take it, and I don't want to see him hurt."

She watched her friends share a look, they almost looked like little girls sharing a secret. Emily sighed. "What?"

JJ raised her eyebrows. "Nothing, it's just sweet that you're so stressed out on his behalf."

The profiler glanced between them, realization slowly dawning. "Oh, oh no, no, don't you guys go there, that's not what this is about. Nothing is going on between us beyond taking care of Addy."

"Alright…" Garcia conceded. "But you know, it wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing if it you guys did hook up."

Emily stared at her incredulously, and then turned to JJ. The blond shrugged. "I could think of plenty of work-related reasons making it a bad idea, but I think you've dated guys far worse for you."

Emily's mouth fell open as she stared at her two friends like she'd never seen them before. Then she shook her head violently. "Okay, we're done talking about me for the night. Garcia, Christmas plans?"

The tech immediately looked nervous. "Actually, I'm meeting Kevin's parents...and totally freaked."

* * *

"Hi there, I'd thought you lost my number." She smiled like a cat, and allowed him to lead her to a table.

Morgan hadn't been on more than ten dates since Addy was born, and Emily had told him earlier that Addy would be shopping with her, so he better take the opportunity to get his flirt on. So, he'd called Josie, who was attractive and charming, and who he'd promised to call months ago after meeting her at a bar. He didn't take her home, not that night at least. He was kind of hoping to tonight, but at the same time had a nagging feeling in his head telling him that he shouldn't. It wasn't a feeling he was accustomed to. It almost felt like guilt.

"Yeah, sorry about that. I've been a little busy." He held her chair for her like a gentlemen, and then sat across from her.

"Oh yeah, criminals keeping you busy?"

"Nothing I can't handle," he smiled.

They ordered drinks and dinner, and made flirty small talk for a while, before she looked at him curiously. "There's something different about you."

Morgan's eyebrows went up. "Really? How do you figure that?"

"You seem...I don't know. Like you aren't working so hard to get in my pants, like you've grown up a little."

He chuckled. "And, yet you still gave me your number."

Josie smiled. "Well, I didn't say I was opposed." Then her look turned serious. "Only one thing makes a man grow out of his player ways that quick, and that's fatherhood."

He nodded. "You ought to be working in my field."

"So, what happened, you get a girl pregnant?" She shifted, less comfortable now, but not running away. That told him, either she wasn't interested in more than a night, or she wanted to settle down and soon.

"Not me. A friend of mine had a baby almost four months ago, a judge signed off on the legal adoption four days ago."

Surprise and confusion was too gentle for her expression. "Wait a minute, you adopted your friend's kid? Are you a single father then?"

Now it was his turn to be surprised. "What? No, no. It's called a second-parent adoption; her mother is still her mother, but I'm now her father."

"This must be a very close friend, for you to go through all that."

"Yeah, we're pretty close." He pulled out his cell, flicked to a picture of Addy, and handed it to Josie. "That's Addy."

"She's beautiful."

He smiled proudly. "Thanks, she looks a lot like her mama already."

* * *

A dozen stores, a coffee run, and hours of gossip later, they were all tired, Henry had been whining to go home for the last half hour, and Addy was growing increasingly fussy. They had picked out and purchased, three outfits for Addy (nothing was good enough to meet Morgan's mom, JJ and Garcia decided they'd handle that without Emily around to agonize about it), two outfits for Henry (who'd been unimpressed with both), a dress for Emily (against her protests), and a dress for Garcia, who was more excited than nervous after a long talk with her girlfriends.

"Shh, I know, I know, we missed dinner, I'll give you a snack in the car," Emily promised her red-faced, angry daughter.

"It's not going to be a little cold to feed her?"

"Won't feel any worse than it does now. She didn't eat much before we came, so they're uh, how do I put this delicately...feeling a little over-full."

Garcia looked a little startled, but JJ just chuckled. "Alright, so I'll see you tomorrow," she nodded to Garcia, and then turned to Emily "And, we're meeting for lunch this weekend, right?"

She nodded. "Yeah, call me Friday and we can finalize plans."

With that all three women looked somewhat mournfully at the cold, blustery weather, bundled themselves and their children, and dove out against the wind. JJ headed off to where she'd parked with a wave, and Garcia and Emily headed in the direction of their cars. They had agreed to meet and start without JJ, so they were parked pretty close to each other.

"You want me wait with you while you feed her?" Garcia asked, holding her hood up around her head.

Emily shook her head. "Don't worry, we'll be fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'll see you this weekend." Garcia nodded then, gave her a quick hug, and ran off to her car. Emily dumped the bags in the back of her Prius, and slid into the driver's seat, a tight squeeze with Addy still attached to her chest.

She started the car, and cranked on the heat. "Alright baby, let it warm up a little."

Addy was rooting and getting increasingly impatient, but 30 degree weather and bare breasts don't mix. After a few minutes, the car was warm enough for her to unbundle both of them, and coax Addy toward her dinner. Fortunately, not much coaxing was required. "Ouch," Emily hissed as the baby latched on.

It was almost nine o'clock. She wondered if Morgan was still on his date, if they'd moved things into someone's bedroom. And, she quickly pushed away the uncomfortable ping of jealousy at that thought. Emily shook the thoughts of him away, and focused on Addy instead. She was beautiful and perfect, and sometimes the sheer miracle of that still stunned her.

She had to brave the cold again to get Addy into her car seat, but that went without much incident, and Emily was happy to finally being pulling out onto the road. She was barely fifteen minutes from the mall when she hit a red light, and stopped at a deserted intersection. She glanced back to check on Addy, and surprisingly, the baby wasn't asleep, but staring at the staring at the snow that was starting to come down. Emily smiled at her wide eyes, and turned back to the road.

There was only seconds. Seconds in which the light turned green, and she started forward. Seconds in which she saw the headlights rushing toward them with no sign of stopping. And, seconds she had to make the decision to turn the wheel to the left, toward the oncoming car, so the impact would be mostly in the front of the car. Seconds to try and protect her child.

The nose of the truck impacted into the driver's side, slamming into the front door and nose of the Prius, sending it spinning across the intersection. The air bag deployed as the car slid across the pavement, the entire length of the passenger's side colliding with the trees on the side of the road. The truck, having swerved, went over the lip of a sidewalk, and came to a grinding halt in a store's manicured bushes. Then it was silent.

Except for the whimpers of a baby that soon turned to distressed cries.

* * *

_Alright, it's still December, so technically, I'm not late posting this. I will admit however, I intended to post it a week ago, but life got in the way. Life will be in the way for the next several days, so don't expect another chapter until the end of the week. After that however, the updates should be more prompt. Thank you for reading, and please review!_


	2. Chapter 2

Morgan had come to the conclusion that tonight was all she wanted, which was all he wanted as well. They were at Josie's front door, and he was letting his hands travel as she groaned and tried to get the key in the lock. It was snowing, but not heavily, so he didn't mind making it a little difficult for her. He grew up in Chicago, cold just wasn't that big of a deal to him. He hoped Emily had gotten home though, he didn't like the thought of them driving around in the snow.

His phone rang just as she'd gotten the door open, and Morgan resisted the urge to sigh as he grabbed it. Hotch. Great, they had a case. He turned to Josie, "I have to answer this, it's work."

She nodded, and shut the door behind him, walking into the apartment, and removing her coat.

"Hotch, we catch a case?" He asked by way of greeting.

"No, this isn't about a case." Hotch voice was thick with trepidation, he didn't want to say whatever it was he called to say.

"Then what's it about?"

"Morgan, I just got a call from a friend in the Virginia state police, Emily and Addy were in a car accident. He recognized her name, and called me. They were just outside Arlington, so they were taken to Virginia Medical Center."

His heart was suddenly pounding in his ears. "Are...are they okay?"

"I don't know, he didn't know. All he could tell me was that Emily was unconscious and the EMTs were concerned about Addy's temperature." Hotch was speaking at the same volume, but his voice was starting to sound far away.

His throat dry, a pit of cold fear in his stomach, Morgan finally managed, "I'll meet you at the hospital." He didn't wait for Hotch to respond, just hung up.

"Everything okay, Derek?" Josie had returned from wherever she'd disappeared to, wearing nothing but a negligee.

"No, I have to go." He disappeared out the door without another word, racing down her front steps, back to his car.

* * *

He was coaching himself on deep breaths by the time he arrived at the hospital. His heart was racing so fast his chest ached, and he was trying very hard to not panic, But, oh god, if he lost them...

"Excuse me," he said to the woman at the triage window. "A woman and an infant were brought in early from a car accident. Emily and Adelyn Prentiss."

She nodded, and tapped a few keys. "They're both still in with the doctors, so I can't tell you anything. You said the infant's name is Adelyn?"

"Yes, Adelyn Rose Prentiss. It's spelled A-d-e-l-y-n."

She nodded, and typed more keys. "You're the father?"

Morgan nodded. "Yes, I am. Do you have any idea when I might hear something?"

"Sorry, I don't know that. Can I have your name, the child's birth date and hospital she was born at."

"Derek Morgan. Addy was born August 9th of this year at Georgetown." He wasn't about to try and explain her surprise arrival at 40,000 feet.

"We'll get her records, but is there any complications the doctors should know about?" She didn't look at him, just kept typing.

"She was premature, born at 35 weeks, barely more than 5 pounds, and she had an ear infection a couple months ago. Otherwise, she's been healthy," he said.

"Alright, is she covered under her mother's insurance or yours?"

"Her mother's. We have the same carrier and group, but I don't know her individual policy number."

"We'll get that later then. Fill out as much of this as you can, there's two sets there, for mother and child, bring it back when you're done." She handed him a clipboard and a pen. "I'll let the doctors know you're here, for now take a seat over there with everyone else."

Morgan took the clipboard, and shuffled over to an empty seat. It took every ounce of willpower he had to carefully fill out the papers, and not explode with fear and worry. He wasn't alone for very long though, Rossi arrived first, finding him in the crowd.

"Morgan, did they tell you anything?" The older man sat beside him.

"No, they just gave me every form known to man to fill out." He gestured to the clipboard. He finished the last bit of information he had for Emily, which wasn't much. How was he supposed to know when her last period was, or if she'd ever had surgery?

Sighing, he delivered the clipboard back to the nurse, who shook her head, before he could even ask for an update, and then headed back to his seat. He was stopped midway by a voice high with worry, and the hug that followed.

"Oh god, I just saw her, I was going to wait with her, but she said she'd be fine, so I left, and now I wish I hadn't, and have you heard anything yet?"

Morgan blinked at her rocket-speed talking, and finally said, "No, nothing yet."

JJ and Hotch weren't far behind her, and Reid followed them, everyone settling onto chairs to wait, Garcia clutching his hand like a lifeline. The longer he sat there and waited, the more he began to contemplate the idea of them dying, and the closer he came to losing his dinner right there on the ER waiting room floor. To get his mind off  
that, he bowed his head toward his hands, one of which was still joined with Garcia's and began to pray, practically begging God.

"Mr. Morgan." He looked up to see the receptionist at the triage window waving at him.

"You have news?" He asked eagerly.

"No. We just received Adelyn's records from Georgetown, correct me if I'm wrong but that's not your name on her birth certificate?" She held a poor resolution fax copy out to him.

"I'm not her biological father," he confirmed, frustrated already.

"Then we can't give you any of her medical information."

"You can, legally I am her father, I adopted her," he insisted. He ignored the gasp heard from Garcia, and the surprise he was sure was on everyone else's face. Except Reid.

"If you adopted her, how come her birth certificate hasn't been changed yet?"

"Because, it only went through four days ago." He tried to keep his temper in check, but the woman was looking at him like she didn't quite believe him. "I promise you, she is my daughter, I am legally responsible for her. I will call Emily's lawyer tomorrow and have her fax the paperwork, but no one will be there this late."

"I can confirm it," Reid said, joining him at the window. "I was his character reference."

"And you are?"

"Spencer Reid, I'm Addy's godfather."

The woman sighed and stared at the two men. "You will get that paperwork faxed here as soon as possible tomorrow morning." Morgan nodded aggressively. "Then I will not mention any of this to the doctors, and I suggest you don't either."

He sighed in relief. "Thank you."

She shooed him back to his seat, and Morgan slunk into his chair. He turned to the four pairs of eyeing staring at him. "Not right now. After we know they're both okay, you can give me as much hell as you want, but not right now."

"It's true then?" Hotch asked, stern profiler face on.

"Yes, I legally adopted Addy." Hotch only nodded, and for that Morgan was grateful. Garcia gave him an annoyed look, and then a kiss on the cheek. He wasn't entirely sure what that meant, but she said nothing, just went back to holding his hand.

It felt like they waited forever, and Morgan excused himself at one point to pace and in curse in the cold. He also called his mother, asked her and the girls to pray for Addy and Emily. His eyes were wet and his voice was cracking by the time he hung up. Then it was back to waiting in the hospital.

"Adelyn Prentiss?" All six heads whipped to the right to see a woman in dark blue scrubs searching the crowd. Morgan was immediately on his feet.

"I'm her father, Derek Morgan."

"Dr. Taylor. Adelyn is doing well, Mr. Morgan. When the paramedics brought her in, she was in the mild stages of hypothermia. After we determined there was no head trauma, we put her in an incubator. Her temperature was about a degree away from normal when I left, so I'm confident it will normalize without a problem. Since infants use so much energy trying to warm themselves, we have her on IV nutrients to replenish what she lost. We'll be keeping her overnight, but she should be able to go home late tomorrow as long as there's no complications."

Morgan felt like he might just faint. "So, Addy is going be alright then?"

"Yes, she's going to be alright," the doctor confirmed with a smile.

"Can I see her?"

"Of course, the NICU is on the fourth floor, just follow the signs once you get upstairs."

"Thank you, doctor," he said shaking her hand. His little princess was going to be alright, now he just had to worry about her mama.

* * *

Garcia accompanied him up to the NICU, and he found the scenario very familiar. Looking through a big glass window at his tiny baby girl surrounded by monstrous-looking hospital equipment. Except this time, it was different. She wasn't just Emily's little surprise baby, she was his little baby too. And this time, Addy was hooked up to an IV as well as monitor's. she was sleeping, one little arm above her head, the other-which had the IV in her arm-was down by her side. If she'd been awake, he'd have asked to hold her, but he didn't want to wake her.

He inhaled, and the breath shuddered down his throat until it got caught at the lump that had been stuck there since Hotch called him. He swallowed it down, and a breathy sob escaped, seconds before the tears pricked his eyes.

"Hey," Garcia said softly, "It's okay, Derek, she's alright." She rested a hand on his bicep, rubbing it up and down in a comforting motion.

"I thought I'd lost her, babygirl."

She wrapped him up in a hug. "You didn't, though. She seems to have inherited her mother's resilience."

"Thank god for that," he agreed. Now he just needed know Emily was alright, and the pit in the center of his stomach would go away.

Garcia pulled away, and smiled at him. "Emily will be fine too."

He raised an eyebrow at her, then he shook his head. There was no use in questioning a woman that insisted she was omniscient.

"So," she said, "you're legally a daddy now. How does it feel?"

He didn't get to answer, Garcia's phone was ringing. She winced, expected a nurse or doctor to come out and reprimand her, but it was JJ, so she answered. "Hey...Yes, we'll be down."

"Emily?" Morgan asked.

"Yeah, her doctor finally came out." She stowed the phone back in her purse. Morgan took once last look at Addy, before accepting the hand Garcia offered, and heading to the elevators.

By the time they reached the team again, he was at least confident she wasn't dead. They would have read that off the doctor in an instant, and Garcia would have sensed it in JJ's voice. The doctor was a younger man, probably about Reid's age, and he held his colorful cap in one hand. He waited for confirmation that the whole group had assembled before launching into the explanation.

"Emily's injuries don't appear life-threatening, but they are extensive. I'm most concerned about the concussion, according to her medical file faxed by the Bureau, she suffered a concussion this time last year?" He looked at them for confirmation, and received several nods. "Concussions can have a synergistic effect, the second is made worse by the first, even with a year between them. Fortunately, she regained consciousness briefly at the scene, and came to again in the ER. I ordered both a CT and an MRI. So far, I haven't detected any bleeding or structural damage, and at this time, no functional deficits, though functionality will be better determined when she's awake. That being said, and keeping in mind that head injuries are extremely unpredictable, especially when there's a history, I don't expect more than mild cognitive side effects. She probably won't remember the accident, maybe even the hours just before it, and she might be a bit confused." He took a breath and studied them.

"That's good news then?" Garcia asked.

"Yes, it's good news..." he glanced in her chart. "Her other injuries include two broken ribs and a broken arm, both on her left side, and minor cuts and bruises. The ribs should heal on their own, but she'll have to limit her activity. Her arm is broken in two places, one toward the top of the humerus," he pointed to the area about two inches below his shoulder, "and in the middle of her radius." This time he pointed to the center of his forearm. "The orthopedic specialist, Dr. Hanover is casting her entire arm, and she'll have to wear a sling to keep her shoulder and arm immobile while she heals...any questions?"

It was JJ who thought to ask. "What kind of painkillers are you putting her on?"

"I'm waiting until she wakes up, and will determine how severe the pain is then."

"She's nursing, is there anything safe for that?" She asked.

He thought a moment. "Each drug has it's own risks, some less than others. It will ultimately be her decision."

"When can we see her?" One glimpse and Morgan could believe she was alright.

"I'll have a nurse come out and let you know, it shouldn't be long though."

Morgan nodded and extended a hand. "Thank you, doctor."

* * *

_So, I suppose it would depend on the hospital and personnel involved, but it may be a bit unrealistic of the intake nurse to let Morgan have that info without the adoption paperwork available. Someone in the medical field can correct/confirm if they feel like it. And, being that I am not a doctor, I did my best with the injuries and medical jargon. Other than that, thank you all very much for the reviews, this story should be updated more regularly from her on out. Thanks for reading!_


	3. Chapter 3

Emily wasn't entirely sure what was going on, but she was pretty sure she didn't want to know, because it hurt. A lot. Her entire head throbbed, like it was a basketball someone was dribbling. It took a few seconds for her to work her way past the god-awful throbbing into consciousness. She whimpered as the light hit her eyes, and the ache in her body grew worse as she became more aware. She moved her fingers, but couldn't move her left arm, she couldn't unbend it.

"Emily?" Reid's voice. Then she heard a lot of foot shuffling, before forcing her eyes to open again.

"Hi." She sounded bad, weak; she did not like that. She glanced at the arm she couldn't move, and noted that it was completely encased in a white cast. With her mobile arm, she rested a hand on her aching head. She looked at where all six of her team members were standing beside the bed. "What the hell happened?"

"What do you remember?" Hotch asked, a little too calmly for her liking.

She actually had to take a minute to figure that out. "I was trying to get Addy to eat more before I went to meet Garcia at the mall." At the thought of the baby, her brain seemed to scream at her, and her heart raced into the first stages of panic. She looked toward Morgan. "Addy, where is she? Is she alright?"

"She's fine, in the NICU three floors up," he said, taking her hand, and giving her a reassuring squeeze.

"NICU? Why? She's not alright if she's in intensive care. What happened?" She tried pushing herself up, but groaned in pain instead.

Morgan rested a hand on her arm. "They're monitoring her, and keeping her warm, but really, Emily, she's alright. I checked on her twenty minutes ago, she's sleeping." She knew he wouldn't lie, but still, this was a lousy thing to wake up to.

"Okay, then what happened?"

"A drunk driver hit your car on the way home from the mall," Hotch answered. "Virginia state police will be here tomorrow to talk to you."

Of course the other driver was drunk. "Did they get him? Or her?"

"Yes, he's here overnight for monitoring, he'll go to arraignment as soon as he's released tomorrow."

"Wait a minute, he's here?" Morgan's face had instantly taken on a look of fury.

Hotch shot him a look. "There's nothing you can do."

"The hell there's not," he practically growled back.

"Morgan," she said, and even in her weak, tired voice, there was a distinct warning. His anger almost instantly deflated. So, maybe sounding totally pathetic wasn't such a bad thing.

Emily went to push herself up again, but found it too painful again. "Does someone have the remote to this damn thing?"

Rossi had already located it, and was studying the buttons. He finally pushed one, and the top have the bed began to rise forward. He brought her up halfway before stopping it, and putting the remote where she could reach it. It was nice to almost be at eye-level with everyone. "Thanks."

A presence at the door distracted all of them, and an young man came, followed by an older man in a white coat. "Emily, nice to see you awake. I'm Dr. Connors, and this is Dr. Zeist. Dr. Zeist is a neurologist, and if your friends would all step outside a minute, he's going to conduct a mental status exam."

"My name is Emily Prentiss, it's December 4th, or 5th maybe, 2010, I'm in a hospital, probably somewhere in Virginia, near Arlington, and the current president is Barack Obama. Other than a little amnesia, I'm fine," she insisted. "When do I get out of here?"

* * *

Early the next morning, Morgan was sitting in the NICU, trying to get Addy to take a bottle of formula. Emily had grudgingly gone through with the exam, which much to his relief confirmed that she suffered no lasting damage. Then ensued a rather involved conversation about painkillers, which ended (to no one's surprise) with Emily refusing  
anything stronger than ibuprofen. While there were drugs generally considered safe for breastfeeding mothers and babies, there were always risks. She would rather deal with the pain, no matter how small the risk.

After that Emily had asked when she could see Addy, and was promptly disappointed to be told not before the morning. They both needed to rest. She fell asleep not long after that conversation, and the team headed back home. Reid had offered to stay with him overnight, but Morgan had sent him home. He didn't do much besides sleep in the lounge chair in Emily's room anyway. She'd still been sleeping when he left to check on Addy, who the doctors had taken off the IV nutrients around 4 in the morning.

Which meant that she was hungry, and that she should be taking the bottle without any fuss. But, Addy had never had formula. Emily was determined to make up for not taking care of her in-utero, so she'd been adamant about feeding her only breast milk. At first, she'd taken the bottle, but she'd spit it out, and with it the formula she'd ingested. For the last hour, she'd simply been refusing to take the bottle. He'd taken breaks, to sooth her, talk to her for a while, and tried again, but his spoiled little princess just wouldn't have it. He'd even tried explaining to her that the doctors wouldn't let him take her home until she ate from a bottle.

They'd said if Emily was well and at home, they would be fine with just breastfeeding, but since she was stuck at the hospital for a couple more days, they wanted Addy taking a bottle willingly. Morgan didn't want to tell Emily that she wouldn't take it, because it would just upset her, and have her trying to get released before she was ready.

"Come on sweetheart, eat something for Daddy," he gently coaxed, dribbling a little of the formula over her lips.

Addy squealed and squirmed in protest, waving her little arms. Morgan sighed, and put the bottle down. "Alright, I know you don't want it."

"Hi." Morgan looked up to see Hotch standing awkwardly in the NICU, bag in his hand. He held it up. "Garcia packed it last night, it has some things for Addy."

The diaper bag was in Emily's wrecked Prius, probably being tagged for evidence. Hotch had good timing, he needed clothes if he was going to take her to see Emily.

He nodded, and took the bag. "Thanks."

"How's she doing?"

"Her body temperature was regular all night, she pooped and peed, vitals are normal, I just have to get her to eat," he explained. "Then they'll release her."

"She doesn't want to eat?"

"No, she prefers Mama's milk, don't you, spoiled-girl?" He asked her, the same time he kissed her.

"How does it feel?" Hotch suddenly asked.

Morgan looked up. "What's that?"

"Being a father, how does it feel?" His voice was surprisingly free of judgment, soft almost.

"Frightening...but wonderful. It's amazing, I can get back from a miserable case feeling like the world is just a big black hole of horrors, and then I drive to Emily's and take the baby off her hands so she can shower or sleep or whatever. As soon as she's in my arms, and looking at me with those big brown eyes, nothing else matters. The victims, the killers, the families destroyed, it all goes away."

The smallest hint of a smile appeared on the typically stoic man's lips. "Yes, it does."

Morgan laid Addy in the bassinette they'd switched her too, and dug in the bag Hotch had brought for baby clothes.

"Are you still going to tell me there's nothing going on between you and Prentiss?"

He sighed, and turned to his boss and friend. "I swear to you, Hotch, I haven't so much as kissed her."

He almost felt like a teenager promising his date's father that he wasn't groping her in the backseat of his muscle car. Except this time, he actually hadn't been groping her, and Hotch was less concerned about her virtue than the team dynamic and Bureau rules.

Hotch studied him for a long minute, his expression completely unreadable. Then he said something that totally threw Morgan off. "But, you want to."

Suddenly, Morgan was frozen, totally unprepared to respond to that. His throat was dry, and he nearly dropped the footie he was holding. Finally, he managed two words, his voice weaker than he intended, "Excuse me?"

"I just saw her, she said the same thing, and I believe both of you, but I also believe that it won't stay that way."

Morgan was so utterly flabbergasted, and Hotch seemed so calm, he had no idea what to do or say. "I'm not comfortable with this conversation."

Hotch studied Morgan a moment longer, before finally nodding. "Keep us updated on Emily and Addy."

"Will do," he promised. Then Hotch was out the door, and Morgan was totally lost.

* * *

Emily sighed in boredom and turned toward the window. Hotch had been by with a bag of clothes, courtesy of Garcia, and then the VA state police visited. It was a pretty short visit considering she was the victim in their case, but really how many different ways could she say, 'I don't remember anything'. The doctor said the amnesia should go away with in 24 hours, but she knew from previous concussions (yeah, that was healthy) that any doctor's favorite word when discussing head injuries was, 'unpredictable'.

At least the pain had mostly dissipated, in her head anyway. Her arm and ribs still hurt, but Emily was as good at compartmentalizing physical pain as she was emotional. And, no matter how many reassurances the doctor gave her, anything strong enough to actually take the pain away was too dangerous for Addy. As long as she didn't move too much, she'd be fine, and with the exception of breakfast and a trip to the bathroom, she'd hardly moved all morning.

"I'd have thought you'd have hijacked a wheelchair, and been on your way out by now."

Her head whipped toward the door to see Morgan cradling a blanket-wrapped Addy. She smiled and held her arm out. "As long as she's stuck here, I don't mind being stuck with her."

Morgan eased the baby into the curve of her right arm, against her body. Emily kissed Addy's head, and just held her for a moment, enjoying that she was safe and healthy. It reminded her of the first time they'd handed her Addy in the NICU. She was so scared, but somehow relieved to see that the baby she'd given birth to was at least healthy. This time, she wasn't scare of her daughter, just so incredibly happy to be able to hold her it was a little hard to breathe.

"Hey," Morgan said, gently taking her hand. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I've just never been away from her this long, my maternal instincts are going crazy."

He was about to comment, but Addy started rooting and distracted her. "Are you hungry sweetie?" She cooed, shifting her gown to expose a breast, and positioning Addy. The baby latched on quickly, and suckled greedily. Emily released a satisfied moan.

"Feel better, Princess?" Morgan asked, amused smirk on his face.

"I already leaked through two hospital gowns, my breasts are so full."

"Garcia didn't pack your pump?"

She waved to the bag. "I'm sure it's in there somewhere, I just haven't gotten a chance to get into that bag yet. I had the cops and Hotch earlier, and a nurse making sure I ate my breakfast."

Morgan took the opportunity to investigate the bag, and after only a few short moments, pull the breast pump out, and rested it on the bedside table. "When I take her home today, I'm going to need a couple bottles to go," he said.

"To go? I'm not the Chinese food joint on the corner."

He smiled and nodded to the baby. "As far as she's concerned you are."

She rolled her eyes. "You'll get whatever's left, but at the rate she's going I can't imagine it will be much. Tonight's probably going to have to be formula."

"Well, I'll at least need a bottle for lunch. She has to drink from a bottle before they'll okay her to go home, you know, since you aren't coming with us."

"You know I could, if we just explain to the doctor it's in my child's best interest. Or I could check out AMA," she said hopefully.

"No, you couldn't. You aren't going anywhere until they say it's safe for you to leave."

Emily rolled her eyes. "I have a three broken bones, and a concussion. And, we both know it's not my first concussion."

"Four bones," he corrected.

"Three, the arm and two ribs."

"Two bones in your arm are broken, so four. Besides, the fact that you've had another concussion is reason enough for you to stay where they can monitor your hard head." His tone was teasing, but she could tell he was serious, and worried.

"I'm fine, but I'll behave myself and stay." She winced as her right side went from sore to really sore, and gently disengaged Addy, who began to cry. "Can you help me get her on my left side?"

It was awkward, and Morgan's hand definitely brushed her breast when he situated Addy on the pillow, but after a struggle they got it to work. He sat on the side of the bed facing her, just in case Addy started to slip or something. It was awkward, and the cast was heavy, and she was kind of afraid of hurting Addy with it. The cast was bigger than the baby. She didn't seem to mind though, just guzzled away like she hadn't eaten in a month.

After a while though, the pressure of her eight and three quarters pounds started to hurt her broken ribs. Addy was still eating though, so she pressed her lips together, and tried to think her way through the pain. Her nipples got very sore from feeding sometimes, so grinning and baring pain wasn't totally new. Except the longer she let Addy lay on her broken ribs, the worst it hurt, and Morgan started to realize that.

"Alright, how about I take her, and you can pump. If she can actually fit more in her belly."

Emily wanted to continue holding her daughter, especially since she wouldn't be seeing her much while she was stuck at the hospital, but she reluctantly let Morgan take her. The absence of even her small weight was instant relief to her ribs. Morgan passed her the pump, while he tried to soothe Addy's unhappy cries, so he could burp her.

"I know, I know, you want your mama," he said, gently patting her back. He could see that the next few days were not going to be fun.

_

* * *

Okay, in case anyone is wondering, yes, Addy is small for a 4 month-old, which is about what she would be in this, but she was premature. I researched, she's tiny, but as far as I can tell, that's about accurate for her birth weight. And, this is only the beginning, this one is going to be long.  
_

_Thanks for reading, and please review!_


	4. Chapter 4

_This chapter skips time sort of awkwardly, but I had to or else this would be even longer than I can already tell it's going to be. And, really there's only so many ways I can describe Morgan with Addy before it gets repetitive and dull. Other than that, enjoy the chapter. _

_Thanks for reading and to those who've reviewed._

* * *

December 5, 2010

Morgan was quite possibly losing his mind. He'd stopped trying to get the bottle into Addy's mouth, and was now pacing around Emily's living room with her. Yesterday afternoon, she'd taken the bottle of breast milk without a fight, so he was allowed to take her home. JJ had stopped by after visiting Emily last night, and dropped off a couple of bottles. He'd mixed 3/4 milk and 1/4 formula, as the nurses in the NICU has suggested, and gotten that into the baby with only a little fuss. That got him mostly through the night. But, she was very hungry by morning, and very angry that she was very hungry. Fortunately though, she got over it after he took her to see Emily.

It was nearly eight in the evening now, and Addy refused to eat a mix of half milk and half formula. It was all he had until Garcia arrived, but unfortunately his daughter was not happy with the situation. Part of him was seriously considering spending all day at the hospital tomorrow, until the doctors kicked him out. But, as happy as it would make Addy, Emily needed to rest and move her broken body as little as possible. She'd probably be released the day after tomorrow, and then he knew she'd be moving as much as she could take the pain. Better she rest now.

A knock at the door left him feeling a little less hopeless. Still bouncing Addy, he yanked it open, and ushered Garcia inside. She had a small, insulated lunch bag in her hand, their means of storing and transporting the bottles.

"You are a sight for sore eyes babygirl," he greeted, liberating the bag from her hand.

She grinned. "If I'm the milkman shouldn't we be having dirty sex on the kitchen floor before your husband gets home?"

He raised his eyebrows at her. "It's a tempting offer, but I don't think Kevin would appreciate that."

She gave his bicep a little squeeze. "You okay, hotstuff, you seem a little stressed, and Addy seems a little pissed."

"Can you take her a minute?" He asked, already transferring the baby to her arms.

Garcia began to rub her back and try to soothe her. "Why so fussy? Your mommy said you were such a good girl this morning?"

Morgan poured some of the milk-formula from the bottle he'd been trying to feed her-not much, maybe an ounce, and replaced it with some from one of the bottles Garcia brought. He screwed the lid on, shook it to mix it, and motioned Garcia to hand Addy back to him. He nearly wept with relief when she accepted the bottle, and began sucking. "Thank god."

Garcia was looking at him with raised eyebrows. "What's been going on here?"

He looked at her. "She doesn't like formula, refuses to eat it. It makes feeding her while Emily is in the hospital a bit difficult."

"Em didn't mention that to me, she just said Addy prefers the milk to the formula."

"That's because that's all I told her."

Garcia's mouth opened. "I'm sure you have a good reason for keeping this from her..."

"If she knows I'm having trouble getting food in Addy, she'll check herself out AMA, and come home just so she can feed her. That isn't what she needs right now. You heard what the doctor said about the concussions; Emily needs to take it easy, and she won't if she's home." He didn't want to keep anything from her, but she needed the recoup time. "Besides, Addy's being difficult, not on a hunger strike."

"I see your point, but if she was my child I'd want to know."

"You'd also stay in the hospital if you had a concussion and four broken bones."

She looked at Addy, and stroked the baby's head. "If I was worried about this little cutie, I might not."

Morgan offered a skeptical frown. "You think I should let her come home and stress herself out?"

Garcia rested a hand on his. "I'm saying, I'm not a new mommy with 16 week-old infant to worry over, and that maybe she should be allowed to make that decision."

* * *

December 10, 2010

Emily had been out of the hospital for three days, and with considerable help from Morgan she was getting around fine. It was still hard to feed Addy on her left side, and she was leaving baths up to Morgan, but she'd be able to handle most of Addy's needs and her own with minimal fuss. The baby sling JJ had suggested had become a lifesaver, it helped with feeding, carrying her around, and just about everything else. Morgan would go back to work on Monday, and that made her a little nervous, but it would take weeks for her arm and ribs to heal. He couldn't stay out of work the whole time.

"Derek, how's she doing?" A woman in scrubs finally entered the office, and shook Morgan's hand. "And, you must be Emily. Dr. Taylor."

"Nice to meet you." Emily complied with the appropriate pleasantries.

She smiled, and picked up a folder, scanning the results of the exam a nurse had conducted twenty minutes earlier. Dr. Taylor had asked Morgan to bring her in after a week for a follow-up visit, just to make sure everything was normal with her. Addy hadn't exactly been happy with the nurse's exam, but the nurse had been encouraging with the results.

"Well, her exam was good. How's she been at home?" She looked up from her folder at them.

"Good," Morgan said. "Emily has been home the last few days, so she's been happy."

The doctor nodded. "Addy has been behaving normally then? Eating and sleeping normally? Normal bowel movements?"

"Yes, I think she's been a little more fussy than usual, but nothing worrisome, right?" She looked at Morgan.

"She wants to be held a lot, but she's a cuddly baby," he agreed.

Taylor nodded and jotted notes. "And she's stopped refusing to eat?"

Emily turned toward Morgan at those words. He'd never mentioned anything about Addy refusing to eat while she was still in the hospital.

He didn't look at her. "It was just the formula. We haven't given her any of that lately, since Emily has been home to feed her."

Dr. Taylor turned to Emily. "And she's eating normally?"

It took her a moment to shake herself back. "Yes, Addy's eating fine."

The doctor smiled and turned back to her pad, asking them a few more questions, most of which Emily left Morgan to answer. Everything was white noise beyond that unexpected information.

* * *

"You never mentioned anything about Addy refusing to eat." Emily turned to face him. She'd waited until they got in the car, after the doctor gave Addy a clean bill of health.

"She didn't like the formula," he said simply. She waited for him to add to that, but he just put the car in gear, and drove out of the hospital parking garage.

Considering their recent luck with cars, Emily decided not to pursue the conversation until they got back to her house. Unfortunately, that just gave her time to stew and go from concerned and upset to angry.

Morgan unfastened Addy from her new car seat, and she handled the door, pushing into her apartment. She let him situate Addy in the bassinette for a nap, and when her little eyelids fell closed, she motioned him out of the bedroom, switching on the monitor, and pulling the door nearly closed.

"Why didn't you tell me that she wouldn't eat the formula?"

"I got her to eat, Emily, it was fine." He headed downstairs, Emily followed.

"You didn't answer the question, why didn't you tell me?"

"Because, you were in the hospital, there was nothing you could have done."

"I could have come home," she insisted, voice growing louder.

He whipped around to face her. "I told you in the hospital, I didn't want you coming home before the doctors thought you were ready."

Instead of backing up, she got in his face. "The doctors were bilking the insurance, I didn't feel any better on day three than I did on day two."

"Emily, you needed to rest. You needed time to heal before you came home." He was struggling to keep himself calm.

"That's up to me. That's my decision to make, Derek," she insisted, voice loud and sharp.

"Damn it, you're acting like she was starving!" He threw his hands up, until able to control his temper any longer.

"It's not about if she was just finicky or if she was starving, you should have told me she wouldn't eat!"

"I handled it, Addy is fine, what does it matter!"

"Because damn it, she's my daughter!" She hollered back at him.

And, suddenly it was silent, both considering what she'd just said. Then the anger seemed to deflate from Morgan. "As in, she's not mine, right?"

Emily stood there breathing heavily, watching the hurt blossom on his face. "I didn't mean it that way."

He looked away, and then back toward her shaking his head. "Are you sure about that?"

Before she could answer, he was headed for the door, and all she could do was watch it slam shut behind him. And, Addy's ensuing cries meant that she couldn't even run after him.

Emily marched up the stairs, pulled the baby sling off her bed, and tossed it over her head, and gently lifted Addy from the bassinette into the sling, ignoring the pain at bending. She cradled the baby in her good arm, and tried to soothe her. "I know, I know, Mommy screwed up, but Daddy will be back...and I'll fix it."

Addy was not appeased. She continued crying even as Emily slowly bounced her, and paced around the room. Her broken ribs ached at the movement, but she managed to put it out of her mind and concentrate on the baby. But, Addy spit out the pacifier, singing didn't comfort her, nor did any toy Emily tried wiggling in her face. Her diaper was dry, and she wasn't hungry, so after an hour of nothing working, she finally decided to give the baby a bath. It was part of their before bedtime routine, a warm bath, a clean diaper, nursing, and Addy went down without much fuss.

She turned on the water, and put the baby seat into the tub. Derek had been handling baths this week, because it was hard for her to maneuver the baby with only the one arm to use, and painful to bend. But, she'd gotten pretty good at figuring ways around the incapacitation, especially where Addy was concerned, so she wasn't too worried.

"We'll have a nice bath, and then a nap, and I promise you'll see Daddy tonight," she said as she laid Addy on a towel on the counter, and removed her clothing and diaper. If Morgan hadn't cooled off and returned by late evening, she'd call him. Hopefully, he wouldn't ignore her calls.

The baby was squirming and crying, but she wasn't as loud as she had been. Emily continued to talk to her, as she brought her over to the tub, and used her good arm to start lowering her into the baby seat. She'd only gone a few inches when Addy startled to wiggling, throwing off both their balance. Then Emily felt her daughter's little body began to slip from her arm.

* * *

_Don't hate me for that, I'll try to get the next chapter up quickly. _:)


	5. Chapter 5

_Thank you all very much for the reviews on the last chapter, that made my day. And, I believe this is the chapter that most of you have been waiting for. Enjoy. :)_

_

* * *

_Morgan could hear Addy screaming when he got to the door, and it made his already racing heart pump even faster. He'd let Emily's call go to voice mail, still too angry to talk to her, but he'd listened to it immediately. She had sounded like she was crying when she just about begged him to come home-her word-and apologized profusely for what she'd said, all with Addy crying in the background.

As soon as he'd heard it, he'd hopped out of the bed, and began throwing his clothes on. Josie, who he'd called within minutes of walking out Emily's door, and who'd happily welcomed him into her bed, had rolled over and asked him what was going on. His daughter needed him, was all he'd said. Truth was, he was running to Emily's tears more than Addy's. Addy was a baby she cried for a variety of reasons, but it took a lot to make Emily cry. And, he knew she wasn't crying over him, she sounded way too shaken to be crying over him. Something was wrong.

And, he felt like an utter bastard for walking out on them, and heading straight to another woman's house. He shouldn't, they had no claim on each other, but that didn't stop the nagging feeling that he'd been cheating on her. He buried that feeling, tried the knob, and found the front door still unlocked from when he'd left; she'd been hoping he'd come back on his own. A literal open door invitation.

Emily was on the sofa in the living room, eyes red and staring off into space, good arm cradling Addy in her baby sling. Her sling was off, and her casted arm was half-hidden inside the baby sling. His pulse was in his throat, as he surveyed first Emily, and then sat and peered into the sling checking over Addy, looking for any signs of injury.

"Thanks for coming back." Her eyes were focused on him now, and her voice was very quiet.

Morgan nodded. "What happened? Are you both alright?"

"I was going to give her a bath, and I almost-no, I did drop her, I just caught her before she hit anything." She took a shaky breath. "I don't quite trust myself with her right now."

"She's alright though?" He asked.

Emily nodded. "Just upset."

"Can I...?" He nodded toward the baby sling. Emily moved her arm, and let him lift the baby from the sling.

She was crying and angry, and he began to pace, gently bouncing her and kissing her forehead. He looked at Emily. "You should have your sling on, your arm needs to be immobile."

She nodded again, and headed up the stairs, baby sling resting empty against her body. Morgan rubbed Addy's back, and spoke softly to her, telling her he was sorry he left, and that he'd never do it again. She began to quiet, so he lowered himself slowly onto the couch and continued to comfort her. Emily came back down the stairs, baby sling gone, arm sling put in place. She sat beside him, and popped a pacifier in Addy's mouth, but still seemed a little shaken up.

"Are you okay?"

"I could have killed her, if she'd hit her head, or landed in the water and I couldn't get her out fast enough..." She let it hang, and it was clear that behind her unfocused eyes she was seeing she was seeing Addy's death in a bathtub in a dozen different ways.

"The water isn't that deep, you'd have scooped her out, and she'd have been fine. If she'd hit her head...it would have been bad, but I doubt it would have killed her."

She looked at him. "So, she'd just have been brain damaged? That's alright then."

"That's not what I meant," he insisted, mild annoyance in his voice.

"I know. I just...God Derek, I'm afraid I'll hurt her with this stupid cast, and now I have to worry about dropping her, because I can only use one arm. How can I possibly be a good mother right now?"

"Emily, it was an accident, it was not your fault. And, it's not your fault that your arm is broken, that's the idiot that guzzled scotch before getting into his truck. It doesn't make you a bad mother, it means you need a little extra help."

She looked skeptical. "What happens when you go back to work, when you get a case and are gone for three or four days or a week? I can't give her a bath by myself."

"Have Garcia come over and help you. Or, I can call my mother or one of my sisters to fly out and help." If she asked, he'd do it in a heartbeat, and he knew any of the three of them would come.

She nodded. "Thank you...What I said earlier, I didn't mean that the way it sounded."

He shook his head. "It's okay."

"No, it's not. Morgan, I wouldn't have signed those papers if I didn't trust you with her, and I wouldn't have suggested the adoption if I didn't want you to be her father. You've been a father to her since the day she was born, and I'm sorry for making you feel like you weren't." She paused and wiped at her eyes, getting rid of moisture before it could become tears. "When she was born, I was suddenly responsible for her, and I had to reconcile that very quickly. It was terrifying and completely overwhelming, even with all the support from everyone, but I did it. And, I got used to being completely responsible for her-even when you were over and helping me out, I was still primarily responsible for her. Handing over some of that responsibility to you, I guess it was harder than I thought it would be. And, I was angry at myself for not being able to be here when Addy needed me."

He nodded and took her hand, holding it in his. "I'm sorry didn't tell you what was going on with her, I should have; you are her mother, you have a right to know. But, I was worried about you too. I know you, I know if you thought she was suffering, you'd have rushed back home without thought to giving yourself the proper time to heal. I still worry that you'll try to do too much and hurt yourself..." He trailed off and inhaled deeply. "A week ago, I had to seriously consider the prospect of becoming a single father, and I am man enough to admit, I'm not up to that. If it came down to it, sure, but I need you here for both of us."

"You don't have to protect me, Derek."

He sighed, realizing that he finally needed to voice the nagging feelings from the last few months. "Alright, I need you to understand something, and I barely understand it, so I'm going to explain it like this. At first, I hung around because you are my friend, and I care about you. Then this little one somehow got me wrapped around one of her tiny fingers. But for a while now, I've been here, because this is the only place I want to be, and I miss both of you when I'm not here."

Emily looked surprised at first, but it didn't last long. She squeezed his hand. "We miss you too."

He smiled, feeling just the tiniest bit lighter. Of course, he'd still been screwing another woman an hour ago, and he knew, if he wanted to start this right, he needed to come clean. Deep breath, he coached himself. "You should know, when you called me, I was in bed with a woman."

Her eyebrows rose, but she didn't look upset, not outwardly. "Are you seeing her?"

"No. My commitment the last few months has been to Addy." When Emily only nodded, still looking unbothered, he had to press his luck. "You aren't angry with me?"

She went to shake her head, but ended up sighing. "Honestly? I don't like it, but I don't really have a right to be angry. We have no claim over each other, at least not up to five minutes ago, and I'm not even sure we do now...?" She was frowning now, having confused herself.

"Do you want to change that?"

She thought silently for a minute, and clearly struggled through it. "Can you do that? Are you ready to do that?"

His turn to think, and struggle with it. "Honestly, I've never really been monogamous or interested in long term, but I also haven't felt that compelled to date in a while. All my focus has been here, and I, I think I'm ready to make a change."

"You're sure?"

Morgan nodded. "What about you?"

"Not dating has never been a problem for me," she said, self-deprecatingly, then she smiled. "And, I like the thought of Addy and I having you all to ourselves."

Morgan smiled then, feeling like a considerable weight had just been removed from his shoulders. Emily caught it, and her eyebrows rose. "You seem relieved, did you actually think I'd say no?"

He shrugged. "I just...I thought the other day about the idea of you dating someone. Of some other man coming in here, holding you, rocking my baby to sleep..." He shook his head, his whole body tense. "I don't like it."

She seemed surprised, eyes a little wide, studying his body language. "Clearly."

He was about to speak and then he frowned, sniffed Addy, and confirmed what he'd thought. "Alright, she needs a change. How about I take care of that, you give her a little snack, and then we all take a nap, cause, I don't know about you, but it's been a hell of a week and I'm beat."

"Sounds like a plan." Emily nodded, but then looked uncertain. "We can take this slow right?"

"Yeah, I think that's probably best," he agreed. He went to get up, but she stopped him again.

"Morgan-Derek," she amended, "You know that sex won't be in the picture for a little while, right?" Emily gestured to the cast.

He smiled. "I hadn't thought about it, but if you're worrying about that bothering me, it doesn't. I can wait."

Now she looked relieved, and this time when he got up, she did too, and they walked upstairs together. He took Addy to the nursery and changed her, while Emily disappeared into her bedroom.

* * *

Emily was sitting on her bed, waiting for Morgan to finish changing Addy, thinking over what they'd just decided. Were they...were they dating now? Dating didn't seem quite the right word for people who'd been co-parenting for four and a half months. Yet, they had never kissed, not on the mouth anyway. Would it feel weird to kiss him? And, when they became intimate? Thinking about it made her nervous, there was an awful lot at stake if this...whatever it was they were doing, failed.

"Hey." She looked up at his voice. "I think she's definitely ready for a snack," he said.

Emily smirked. Addy was fussing, routing around his chest, leaving little doubt that a fresh diaper was not the only need she required they meet. She was a little nervous about holding her, but she was sitting on bed, there was nowhere dangerous to drop her. Morgan sat beside her on the edge, and transferred Addy to her good arm. Emily lifted up her t-shirt (anything tighter didn't work with the cast on), and unhooked the cup of her nursing bra. Around the house, she'd been going without, but she wasn't about to walk out in public without a bra.

"We're really going to have to work on getting her onto formula before your first case back. I got her to accept 1/2 milk, 1/2 formula, but she didn't eat more than a few ounces of that," he explained.

She'd gone through her FMLA 12 weeks, and had been in her banked vacation time, but after the accident Hotch switched her to medical leave. But she knew Strauss had been pressuring him to get her back or pick a new agent to replace her. She'd even left personnel files on his desk. She'd been thinking more and more lately that he might need to dig into those files.

Emily looked up from watching Addy. She pressed her lips together nervously. "I'm not sure I'm coming back to the team."

His mouth opened, but he was silent for several seconds. "So, you're thinking you'll work a desk?"

"I guess so, or find something at Quantico without so much travel."

"You don't want to leave her."

She ran her tongue over her top lip. "She's still so young, and I'd have to get a nanny or something, and the thought of going away for days at a time and leaving her with some stranger...it ties my stomach up in knots."

Morgan nodded. "I get that. I guess I haven't thought much about it, every time I've gone away she was with you."

"Maybe the job has made me paranoid, or maybe with it was the mid-air, premature birth and car accident before her first birthday that did it, but I don't think I'd be able to concentrate on a case if she was being watched by some stranger."

He ran a hand over Addy's head, and let it rest on Emily's arm. "It's your choice, princess. I'm sure Hotch will understand if you decide not to come back."

She nodded. "I know, I do miss the team though."

"Well, I can tell you the feeling is mutual...Have you mentioned any of this to Hotch yet?"

"Yeah, we talked about it the day after the accident actually. He said to take my time deciding, but I know Strauss has been giving him a hard time."

"Hotch can handle Strauss, and she can't bitch now that you're injured, take your time deciding, like he said."

Emily gave him a soft smile. "Thanks, this is a little weird for me...I worked so hard and waited so long to get into the BAU," she sighed. "But, Addy is more important than that."

"She's a very lucky little girl for her mama to give that up for her." He ran a finger softly along the baby's back.

Addy finished with one side then, and Emily groaned at the thought of switching her. She could pump, but then Addy would cry until she finished and had the bottle ready. She looked up at Morgan. "Can you help me move her?"

"Sure." They both surveyed her broken arm, and tried to figure out the best way to go about it. The baby sling was beside her on the bed, but instead of going for it, like Emily expected, Morgan nodded his head, and went to the other side of the bed.

He climbed on, shimmied toward her, and motioned her to lean up, and move toward him. Confused, but trusting him in whatever he was doing, she tightened her arm about Addy, and moved toward him, as he moved toward her. When the were sitting practically on top of each other, Morgan pulled her back against his chest, so she was sitting in between his legs.

"Is this okay?" He asked.

"Uh, yeah, sure." She still wasn't totally clear on what 'this' was supposed to be.

He put his arms around her, and helped her moved the baby to her left side, so Addy was resting in his arm, her broken arm sat limp on top of his. She coaxed Addy toward her breast, and jumped slightly when the baby latched on.

It was a little awkward to sit like that, so close, so intimately with him, but after a few minutes, Emily began to relax into it. It had been a while since anyone held her, and he kept Addy's weight off her broken ribs. It made it easy to relax into him, almost too easy, and she let her head rest against his shoulder.

"Comfortable, princess?"

"Very, actually."

He chuckled and kissed her head. "I aim to please."

Emily turned to face him, only to realize there was less than an inch between them. She heard his breath catch in his throat the same moment she seemed to stop breathing. He pressed his lips to hers, and she opened her mouth without even thinking, deepening the kiss. It was smooth, and hot, and a needy little whimper erupted from her mouth. Derek Morgan had his tongue in her mouth, and it sent little electric chills racing around her body, all settling in low in her core. It made her wish her ribs would heal, and that she had two good arms. She wanted to feel his hands all over her body, she wanted to finally get a look at those abs he was so proud of.

They finally broke the kiss, both breathing heavily, but Morgan managed one word. "Damn."

She nodded, and now that her head was no longer spinning from that kiss, she felt something against her backside that told her that he'd definitely enjoyed the kiss. Really enjoyed it.

She caught her breath, and said. "If I'd known that's how it felt to kiss you, I wouldn't have kept my hands to myself the last four years."

"That sounds a little naughty," he answered.

"Really? I was hoping for more than a little."

He laughed at that, and she could feel the vibrations in his chest against her back. She liked it, she felt close to him, and that wasn't scary like it usually was for her. It was comforting, and a little bit exciting. They were in almost the same position they'd been in when Addy was born. Except she wasn't hysterical, terrified and in agony.

This was much nicer.

Addy finished and they burped her (an efficient mood killer if there ever was one), and Morgan took her, and shimmied back out of the bed. Emily watched him gently coax their daughter to sleep, and lay her carefully in the bassinet.

"Sweet dreams, little princess." Then he turned back to her. "You should get some rest too."

"Stay with me?"

Derek nodded, and she laid down on her right side, one of two safe positions with her broken arm, and relaxed when she felt him pressed up against her back.

_

* * *

_

_So, Emily's thoughts regarding going back to work aren't intended to be antifeminist, and I kind of hate the idea of her leaving the team. But while I'm not a mother, I feel like the idea of leaving my infant alone with a nanny I recently hired while I was away for three or four days, would be pretty upsetting. Or maybe, I'm just paranoid. If anyone has any thoughts, especially any mothers, I'm interested to hear._

_Oh, and FMLA for those who don't know, is the Family and Medical Leave Act in the States, "entitles eligible employees of covered employers to take unpaid, job-protected leave for specified family and medical reasons with continuation of group health insurance coverage under the same terms and conditions as if the employee had not taken leave." That's off the Dept. of Labor website. _

_Thanks for reading!_


	6. Chapter 6

_I meant to get this up yesterday, but I had some severe plumbing issues that had to be dealt with immediately. All the wonderful reviews I got on the last chapter did help to eas the aggravation, so thank you all very much for those! That isn't Emily's final decision regarding work though, that discussion will come up a couple more times before it's resolved. I think most of you will be pretty satisfied with it. So, thank you again everyone that's following along with this!_

_

* * *

_Addy was not happy about her bath, and her flailing arms and legs were soaking both her parents. Morgan had enough, and stepped away a minute to pull his soaked t-shirt over his head. Emily did not have that luxury, though her soaked teal t-shirt left little to the imagination-at least his imagination.

"Come on sweetie, give mommy and daddy a break," she pled with their angry daughter. "Look, little duckie. You like the little duckie?"

She made a sunflower yellow rubber duck dance in front of Addy, and the baby stopped flailing and yelling for a minute.

"Duckie likes to swim. See?" She pushed the floating ducky through the water toward Addy, and the baby made to grab it. Addy held the duck in her little hands, turning it over and studying it, while Emily sighed with relief and got back to the business of washing her.

Some days it was hard to reconcile the Emily that made 'little duckies' dance, with the Emily he visited crime scenes and stormed houses with. And, then there was the Emily he'd been kissing earlier, if he really wanted to complicate things. That really was a hell of a kiss.

Morgan kneeled beside the tub, and worked on entertaining Addy while she handled the actual bath part. The duck seemed to provide sufficient distraction, until Emily had to wash the suds out of her hair. Normally, water going over her head wasn't fun for her, but it didn't make her shriek like she was either.

"We done?" He asked Emily. She nodded. He picked up a tensed, screaming Addy, and rested her on his chest, anchoring her with one hand while he grabbed a towel. He wrapped her up, and shushed her cries, holding her against his shoulder. Then turned to find Emily watching him, eyes fixed on his chest. He looked down, saw that Addy had dripped water all over his chest.

He grinned at Emily. "Like what you see?"

She snapped out of it, looking slightly flustered. Shy, goofy grin on her face, she looked him straight in the eyes, and said, "Yep."

He was about to speak when the doorbell went off downstairs. Emily rolled her eyes. "I better get that."

She got up to go, and Morgan's eyes went wide as he realized something. "Whoa, Emily stop."

He caught her arm and she looked at him, brows knit, lips puckered in confusion. "What's wrong?"

"Do you really want to answer the door looking like the winner of a wet t-shirt contest?"

She looked down, the sighed and rolled her eyes.

"I've got it," he said, and headed down the stairs, leaving her to change, Addy still snuggled in the towel, and resting against his chest. Morgan didn't look through the peephole, just unlocked the door, and pulled it open. Then his mouth fell open.

"Ambassador, please come in," he greeted, gesturing her inside.

She looked just as stunned, but covered quickly. "Agent Morgon, right?"

"Yes, ma'am. Derek Morgan." He closed the door and offered her a hand.

She accepted, quickly resurrecting her guard and nodding to Addy. "I imagine that's my granddaughter."

"Yes, ma'am. She just had a bath, no diaper yet, otherwise I'd let you hold her."

"Is my daughter home?"

"Yes, she's upstairs changing. The baby got us both pretty wet...uh, splashed us, ma'am," he amended. He didn't remember being this nervous the first time he met her. Of course, he'd been fully clothed then, and hadn't had his tongue down her daughter's throat hours earlier. "If you excuse me a minute, I'll go grab Emily."

He headed toward the stairs, but she stopped him. "Agent Morgan."

Morgan turned. "Yes?"

"You don't need to call me ma'am, or Ambassador. You can call me Elizabeth," she said.

A little rush of relief swept through him. "Then it's Derek, Elizabeth."

She nodded, and Morgan headed up the stairs and nearly ran smack into Emily coming out of her bedroom.

"Whoa," she said. "What's burning?"

"There's a certain diplomat waiting for you in the living room." He shifted Addy up higher on his chest.

Emily's eyes widened, and she whispered frantically. "Why? Dinner's not until tomorrow!"

He shrugged. "Don't know, Princess."

She released a tortured sigh. "Can you get her changed, and bring her down?"

"Of course, go ahead." He watched in mild amusement as Emily's expression went from annoyed to uncomfortable, to something that resembled a sober soldier heading off to the front lines, as she marched down the stairs.

* * *

"Mother," she greeted bestowing their usual, albeit uncomfortable embrace, and gestured her to the sofa. "I wasn't expecting to see you until tomorrow."

"I finished the day's meetings early, and I wanted to come see how you were, you had me worried when you called about the car accident."

"Just a few broken bones, and my Prius is now scrap metal."

"Better it than you or the baby."

Emily nodded. "True."

Elizabeth smiled then. "So, you want to explain the half-naked man holding my granddaughter?"

Emily raised her eyebrows. "The half-naked man has been keeping me sane the last five months."

"I bet."

"Mother," she growled.

"Well, what am I supposed to think, Emily? I come to your home and a shirtless man opens the door, what would you think?" She challenged.

"I don't know, but we aren't intimate, not really."

"Not really? What exactly does that mean?"

Emily sighed. "It means our relationship is complicated."

Her mother nodded slowly. "Emily, I know we never had the sex talk, but I figured by now, especially having had a child of your own, you'd understand that you have to be intimate with someone to get pregnant."

The profiler rolled her eyes. She'd figured that one out at fifteen, a sex talk might not have been a bad idea.

"Morgan isn't Addy's biological father, I told you that he isn't involved."

"So, he's just playing house with you? And, you call him by his last name?"

"We're cops, we use last names, it's force of habit. And, he adopted Addy; it went through a week and a half ago."

Emily braced herself for an onslaught.

But, Morgan appeared with Addy then, both fully clothed, and Elizabeth's stunned expression turned right into a smile. She got up and met Morgan, taking the baby from his arms. Addy, tired and now happy that she was dry, flopped in her grandmother's arms with a put-upon sigh.

Elizabeth ran a hand over the baby's head, and stared at her with awe-filled eyes. Then she turned to Emily. "She looks just like you when you were a baby...I saw it in the pictures you sent, but up close it's stunning. All that dark hair already, and those big brown eyes, she's just beautiful, Em."

"Thank you. I'm sorry I'll have to cut your visit with her short, I've got to feed her and put her to bed."

"Of course, I'm just glad I got here in time to see her...maybe I'll come over tomorrow before dinner. Would that be alright?" She asked, moving Addy to Emily's arms.

"Sure, that will be fine. Just call me tomorrow, and let me know what time to expect you." Addy was already rooting around her chest, looking for a nipple to latch onto. Sometimes, Emily wondered if all she was to her daughter was a food dispensary.

* * *

Wrangling an infant into tights with only one arm was marginally easier than bear wrestling, Emily had decided this by the time her mother rang the doorbell. She tucked a fully dressed Addy into the baby sling, and went to grab it.

Hotch and Morgan had liberated the clothing she'd bought from a DCPD evidence locker, so she was able to put Addy in the blue dress she'd picked out. White tights, and tiny black Mary Janes completed her outfit, and all of it was hard to dress her in with one arm. Unfortunately, Morgan was at his place for once, getting ready.

"Hi, can you take her while I get ready?" She nodded to the lump attached to her chest, her good arm supporting the baby.

After shaking off her surprise at the greeting, her mother smiled. "I'd love to."

Emily held her arms away, so her mother could reach in and grab Addy. She cooed at Addy. "Oh what a pretty girl you are in your dinner dress."

It was a little surreal to see her mother cooing at anything. Emily just shook her head, and headed upstairs, and to her surprise her mother followed. She turned. "Do you need something?"

"No, I want to talk to you while you get ready, before Derek comes over."

Emily nodded, she should have seen this coming. She pulled open drawers and her closet, pulling out what she needed, while her mother sat on her bed, and played with Addy. "So, what did you want to talk about?"

"I want to know what's going with you and Derek."

"Since when are you two on a first name basis?" It wasn't a subtle defense mechanism.

"Since he answered the door last night. I decided I should be on a first name basis with any man that feels that comfortable being shirtless in my daughter's home." Elizabeth supplemented her statement with a pointed look.

Emily sighed. "You make it sound as if there's so many men who fit that description."

"Your having Adelyn is the closest we've come to discussing your personal life in twenty years, Emily. I'm trying not to make assumptions."

"Well please, feel free to assume there's no revolving door to my bedroom."

Elizabeth nodded, and Emily retreated to the bathroom. Getting dressed had become a process now. First she had to remove the sling, then carefully pull off her clothes (which had to have wide sleeves), then put on the new clothing, pulling it delicately over the thick cast, and then put the sling back on. Emily stared at the thigh-highs she'd grabbed, and seriously considering going without.

"Emily, can you hear me?" Her mother called from the bedroom.

"Loud and clear, mother."

"Good...I had a friend run background on Derek—"

"Oh god, mother! He's an FBI agent, that isn't sufficient enough?" She stood there topless, and yelled at the silver of opening in the doorway. She should have expected this, and wasn't sure why she hadn't.

"I have the resources to be extra thorough, I saw no reason not to use them. Besides, he's partially responsible for my granddaughter, I want to know everything about him," she said.

Dear old mom, just like the friggin CIA. Emily sighed. "So, did he pass your background checks, Mother?"

"Mostly."

"What does that mean, mostly?"

"He has a juvenile record, and it seems there was an incident in Chicago a few years ago, that your team was involved in. Both were apparently cleared up." Her statement was really a challenge. If Emily hesitated confirming that they were 'cleared up', her mother would sense it and pounce.

So she didn't. "The juvy record was sealed, Mother, and the incident in Chicago was a bogus charge. We cleared him of it."

A pause. "He owns four properties in Washington D.C, and has sold two others in the last four years."

Emily sighed again. "He fixes them up and sells them. He likes to work on them, it's a stress reliever."

"Interesting way to relieve stress."

"Yes, well think of it this way, if I ever have a problem with my house, he'll be able to figure it out and fix it. Personal on-call handyman, you can't be that." And, she couldn't hide the sarcasm in her voice.

"You have a point there. Good help is very hard to find."

Emily rolled her eyes. "What else, mother?"

"He's a womanizer." It was so blunt, her tone absent of all polite masks, it stunned Emily for a minute.

"I know that, and it's was, not is."

Her mother snorted. "Men like that don't change overnight, Emily."

Emily bit her lip, and moved closer to the door, so she didn't have to yell. "It wasn't overnight, I think it's been developing for a while. He grew up."

"You have evidence to support that?"

"You mean more than practically living together for over four years?"

"What?" Her mother sputtered, surprised.

"The job, mother. The team spends more time together than most families do," she explained.

"You're telling me you've noticed him changing over the years? You must have been paying awfully close attention, Emily."

Emily smirked. "When he's that easy on the eyes? Sure have."

"Emily!" Her mother admonished.

She chuckled silently, but then sobered. "Let me ask you this, the day I was born, and my father held me for the first time, what did you see in his eyes?"

She was met with several seconds of silence. "Pride. Love, I suppose." Then she sighed. "But, we both know that was gone within 12 years."

"Yeah, I know." He left them over twenty years ago, but it still stung. For her mother too, it seemed.

She took a minute to step into her dress, and work it over her hips-a little wider since giving birth-and shove her arms through the straps, taking care with the casted arm. The dress was fitted satin, cut straight at the top up near her neck, which was both fortunate and problematic. Much like her hips, her breasts had expanded, so not having skanktastic cleavage was difficult. At the same time, she bought the dress a year ago, so her breasts just barely fit. She got the zipper halfway up, and then walked into the bedroom, holding the dress closed with one hand.

Her mother was walking around the room, Addy sitting on her hip, staring at everything. Emily stood in front of her, and spoke softly. "Let me tell you something about Morgan. He does not trust, he doesn't let anyone in, but what I see when he held Addy for the first time, when he holds her even now, all those boundaries he keeps come down. And, twelve years or a hundred, that look isn't going to go away."

They looked at each other in total silence, her mother seeming to study her, to search her face for any doubt. There wasn't any to find. She hefted Addy further up on her hip. "And, what about you, Emily? Do you see that when he looks at you?"

She sighed. "No, but I haven't expected to, not yet. Whatever we're doing, we literally just started, and it might fall apart in a few months or a few years, and I'll deal with that. But, whatever happens between us, it won't change his commitment to Addy."

Emily could handle having her heart broken, it certainly wouldn't be the first time, but she wouldn't stand for Addy going through what she did. And, she trusted Morgan, he wouldn't hurt Addy that way, she didn't think he even could.

Her mother nodded. "Do you need help with you dress?"

_

* * *

This is it with Emily's mother. With the above, I think writing the dinner would just be redundant and unnecessary, since she's already voiced her concerns. Sorry if anyone's disappointed. Morgan's family will get more than a chapter though, but they won't appear for a little while yet.  
_


	7. Chapter 7

_Thank you everyone who reviewed the last chapter, it's very much appreciated. This chapter is I suppose sort of an interlude, I'm not sure why, it just felt necessary. The team Christmas party is up next. _

* * *

December 15, 2010

"Look Addy, Daddy is on TV." Emily shifted the baby sling to point her to the screen, and pointed at the figures on the screen.

They were a a fresh crime scene in Center City, Philadelphia; the unsub had dumped the girl in an alley off Market street, Philly's second major vein of traffic. CBS was trying hard to get a shot of the body, but succeeding only in gathering hostile glares from the local cops and Hotch. This was their third day in Philadelphia, investigating an unsub who brutally beat young college girls to death, one of whom turned out to be the mayor's niece. The team had been battling the press since they arrived, and the unsub's declining time between kills meant they were probably working around the clock.

They certainly looked it. She could see the guys and JJ standing at the scene, moving around, studying everything, discussing, examining the body-at least she assumed that's why Reid was crouched down. They looked like hell. Dark bags under their eyes, faces drawn and severe. She wondered when the last time they'd slept or eaten, and had a sudden maternal urge to drag them all home and feed them. Instead, she shifted Addy to lay on her chest, and picked up the phone.

"Supreme tech goddess at your service," Garcia answered cheerfully, though even she sounded a bit tired.

"Hey, are you still at work?"

"Em? Hi, yeah, they just found another body. Why, do you need something? Are you and Addy okay?" She was immediately on high alert.

"We're fine, Pen. Do you have the news on?" She asked.

"Yeah, I've been switching to whoever is running stories on the case."

"They all look like hell. What's going on?"

The tech sighed. "It's a hard case, and you've looked like hell right along with them a few times. In fact, you've looked worse then hell a couple of times. Some sleep and real food after the case is over, and they'll be alright."

"I know, I just...worry I guess." This was new for her, being anxious when she knew they could handle whatever was thrown at them.

"And, you feel guilty because you belong in the trenches with them, right?"

Emily bit her lip, glanced down at Addy who was gumming a plush rattle, and sighed. "Yeah, I do."

"You miss being in the field?" Garcia's voice was soft and curious, not judgmental.

She considered that. That she missed the team was a given, but did she actually miss the work? The crappy hotel rooms they barely saw, lousy cop coffee, barren crimes scenes and bloody corpses, and trying to get into the most disturbed, warped minds humanity has to offer. She thought back to something she'd asked Hotch years ago, after getting slammed in the head with a 2x4, and asked Garcia almost the same thing. "Is it weird that I do?"

"Honey, you happen to work in a profession most people don't understand. That vast population that encompasses 'most' probably would think it's weird, but they've also never done what you do. Weird is relative. I personally think drinking your savior's blood and eating his body is weird, but millions of people do it every Sunday. We've also had a couple cannibal cases, so that might have something to do with it," Garcia suddenly stopped her rapid babbling. "The point is, what other people consider weird is irrelevant to you. Got it?"

Lips pursed in thought, Emily released a breath. "Did you know that I got so bored and so overwhelmed by all the babyness in my second month on maternity leave, I made Morgan bring me a stack of consults so I'd have something non-baby to do?"

"Emily, it's been so secret over these years that you prefer action and have trouble keeping your ass still for long periods of time. That's why Hotch pairs you and Derek up so often, gets you both busy and out of his hair. It doesn't surprise me that you got bored after two months of normalcy."

Emily offered nothing but a long sigh. She still wasn't sure she was going back to the team, but she didn't want to resent Addy if she made the decision not to.

"Em? Are you okay, sweetie?"

She instantly snapped out of her thoughts. "Yeah, I guess it's just what you said, I don't like being on the sidelines while they're all out there."

Garcia made a small, amused noise. "Well, don't worry you'll be out there with them again soon enough, chasing after the bad guys."

Emily nodded absently. "Yeah...sure..."

* * *

Morgan sighed tiredly and ran a hand over his head, tossing his pen aside for the moment. JJ was across from him, hair coming out of her ponytail, and her eyes drifting closed and snapping open as she woke herself back up. Reid was next to him, flipping through papers at warp speed, and seemingly immune to the exhaustion sweeping the team. He'd also been peeing every fifteen minutes from all the coffee he was ingesting. For a skinny frame like his, that just couldn't be healthy. And, Rossi and Hotch were explaining to a nice couple from Vermont that their daughter was dead. The killer left her ID on her, they'd have to confirm it with DNA, but the hair color, eye color, height and weight all matched her Vermont license.

"Hello, hello? Anyone there?" Instantly they perked up, and focused on the laptop on the table.

JJ leaned toward it. "Garcia, if you're about to tell us you found the killer, I'll buy you a quartet of beautiful men to cater to your every whim."

Garcia looked sympathetic. "Sorry Jayje, I only know as much as you. I do have something that's going to make one of you happy though. Where's my beautifully sculpted chocolate delight?"

He walked over to beside JJ. "Right here, babygirl, what's going on?"

Garcia nodded to someone off screen, and turned the screen. Emily was there, Addy in her arms, and he felt himself instantly brighten. "Hey," he greeted, then frowned. "Shouldn't she be down for the night?"

"She's been fussy all day, well except for her afternoon nap, she'd tired herself out by then," Emily said.

"So, you completly altered her schedule by taking her for a drive to Quantico?"

"Yeah, happy to see you too," she muttered. "Addy is being fussy because she wants to know where the hell her daddy got to, so I brought her to Quantico to borrow Garcia's software so she could see her father."

Garcia poked her head in. "Yeah, when you get back, I'm setting both your laptops up with Skype, that way you don't need to go through the Bureau's system to video chat."

"Thanks, Garcia…do you think she knows it's me?" He asked Emily, not sure Addy would understand the concept.

"She knew it was your voice, did you see her head turn when you spoke?" Emily asked.

He hadn't seen that. "Addy? Can you tell it's me, sweetheart?"

Emily brought her to the computer, and Addy looked toward his voice, but didn't seem to get the video. "You want to say hi to daddy, sweetie?"

"Hey beautiful girl, you've got to be good for your mama now, I'll be home…well, I'll be home eventually," he said. He saw her looking right at him, she reached her little arm out, and tried to touch him. When her hand hit the screen, she looked startled and began to cry.

"It's alright, baby, it's alright," Emily cooed to her. "Daddy will be home soon."

"I guess that wasn't such a good idea," he said.

"No, I guess it wasn't." She sounded frustrated, as she let the baby sling take Addy's weight and used her hand to rub her back up and down. "She'll get over it. Good luck with the case."

Garcia offered an apologetic look then. "I'll call you guys when cross-referencing turns up something." Then she cut the feed. Morgan instantly deflated.

"Are you okay?" JJ asked.

"Yeah, just wish I could have comforted her," he said. Addy was upset and missing him, and he was in Philadelphia chasing after some sick bastard.

JJ squeezed his hand. "You get used to it, at least the guilt over not being there."

* * *

December 17, 2010

Morgan yawned as he shoved his key in the door, and tried to quietly enter the dark house. It was after midnight, but the plane had only gotten in about an hour ago, and he'd run over to his apartment to shower, change, and repack his go-bag. He'd been burning it on both ends the last four days, and just wanted see Emily and Addy, and then pass out into oblivion.

He took his boots off by the front door, padded to the stairs in his socks, and dragged his tired body up them with as little sound as possible. Her door was open, so he crept inside, and stood between the bed and basinet. Addy was tucked into a sleep sack, laying on her back, arms out on either side of her cap-covered head, looking for all the world like a little cherub. He slumped slowly onto the edge of the bed, careful not to wake Emily, and watched his little girl sleep. Morgan ran a finger over her cheek, and watched her little movements as she stirred, contracting her little body, pressing her pink lips together.

"Hey there, beautiful girl," he whispered softly. At his voice, Addy uncoiled her body, and relaxed back into peaceful sleep.

"Morgan?" A sleepy voice croaked his name.

He turned to see Emily pushing herself up, looking at him. He could see the new cast on her arm, pure white and absent of Garcia and JJ's colorful decorations. Emily had insisted she wasn't ten, and Garcia had insisted they needed to make the cast less ugly. Apparently, they hadn't gotten around to decorating this one yet. "Hey, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you."

"It's okay. I didn't expect to see you until tomorrow..."

He offered her a grin, but with his exhaustion it lacked some of his usual easy charm. "Couldn't keep myself away."

"You sound exhausted."

"A little. It was a hard case."

Emily pushed herself up further, so she didn't have to lean on her arm, and took his hand. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Morgan shrugged. "Just the usual horror show."

She wiggled his hand to pull his attention from the floor. "Hey, I can tell it's more than that...what's bothering you?"

He sighed and ran his free hand over his head. "These weren't party girls, they weren't involved in drugs, didn't sleep around, the lowest GPA among them was a 3.55...they were good girls going to school to make something of themselves, and this guy...they looked like a rugby team attacked them. They were completely unrecognizable. Half their teeth were knocked out and their jaws were in such bad shape, all the IDs had to be made with DNA." He shook his head, unable to understand it.

"So, what made the unsub so angry?" Emily asked, voice patient.

"The same damn story as always. He had mommy issues, and grew up with two over-achieving sisters." He made a sound of disgust. "I grew up with two sisters who were much better academically than I was, but I did not grow up to hate women."

"No," she said softly, "you grew up to love them."

He nodded. "I talked to some of the parents, and the confirmation of the IDs, it just about destroyed some of them. We've seen it on other cases, losing a child you don't ever completely survive that, and I," he cut himself off and shook his head. "Addy is going to be at college one day, mixing with all those kids, how do we protect her? How do we keep her safe from men like that?"

"Oh Derek, don't start down that road. If you start worrying about threats that aren't even real yet, you'll never stop worrying, and if you continue that way, Addy will end up locked in a tower, wearing a chastity belt, and scratching angry poetry into a notebook."

He was not amused. "Don't you worry?"

Emily sighed. "Of course I worry. But, I reserve my worries for the most immediate threats, like she's not gaining weight fast enough, or I'm going to accidentally give her a concussion with this damn cast. Focus on baby troubles right now, we've got 18 years before we need to worry about serial killers at her college."

Morgan nodded slowly. She was right, especially since their most immediate worry was Addy currently stirring in her bassinet, disturbed by their voices. Emily stroked her head, and whispered to get her back to sleep. He looked at her. "I think it's bed time for us too."

Emily tugged on his hand when he tried to get up. "Stay with me."

He nodded at her, and removed his pants and socks, before climbing into the other side of the bed. She was still curled on her side, and Morgan had a momentary debate in his head about shifting closer. They hadn't shared any romantic intimacy since that kiss, and he didn't want to make her uncomfortable. He decided to go for it, moving so that he was nearly touching her. Emily shimmied back to meet him, and Morgan held her close, his face in her neck.

"Mmm, you smell good," she said, sleepily.

"I showered before I came over."

"Freshly showered Derek Morgan, they should bottle that."

He chuckled, then turned suddenly serious, holding himself up on an arm. "Hey." Emily turned to face him, and he gently ran a finger along her jaw, before mingling his lips with hers.

It was slow and sensuous, and Emily gave a little moan. "Mmm, you taste good too."

He rested his head against hers. "You want to bottle that too?"

"Nope, that's all mine." She kissed him deeply, then rolled over, pressing her body further into the curve of his.

"Good night, princess."

"Good night," she muttered, already halfway to sleep.


	8. Chapter 8

_This chapter is shorter than the rest, but it's been a busy week. Thanks for reading, and please review!_

* * *

December 23, 2010

"Hello," Morgan called as he headed up the stairs.

"In here!" Emily's voice traveled from her bedroom, where the door was slightly ajar.

He stopped outside of it. "Are you decent?"

He heard an annoyed grunt. "Mostly."

Does that mean he should go in, or hang around until she was completely decent? Morgan ran a hand over his head, and stared at the door, attempting to read her mind. Finally he sighed. "Uh Emily, can I-"

"Yes," she stopped him. "I need you to zip me up."

Releasing a breath, he pushed into the room, and looked around until he found her, mouth tight in aggravation. She looked at him, and pointed toward her back. "Please?"

Morgan nodded, and very carefully grabbed the zipper pull that was right above her butt, and pulled it up, using a little extra effort at the top. She turned around, smoothing the dress with her hands, and Morgan's attempt not to stare crashed and burned in seconds. The straps came over her shoulders, and crossed low over her chest, and the black fabric seemed fitted perfectly to her curves.

"You like nice," Emily said, running a hand over the front of his shirt. Black slacks and a nice shirt, he looked good, but it wasn't anything terribly new or special. She seemed to realize he was staring at her then, and glanced down at herself, then up at him. "What?"

"If your arm wasn't broken, we'd be late to this party."

Emily sighed. "I don't have much clothing that fits over the cast, and I have to save my other dress for church while we're at your mother's. I can't be in a church or her home with this much cleavage."

"I doubt she'd mind, I know I wouldn't, and God is responsible for that cleavage, he can't complain." He grinned.

She rolled her eyes. "Anyway...can you get Addy into her tights? I managed to get her in the dress, but the tights aren't happening with one arm tonight."

"The tights barely happen with two half the time," he commented, heading over to where Addy was on a play mat on the floor, grabbing at the toys hanging above her head. He picked her up, and lifted her above his head, cooing at her through her giggles, before bringing her into his arms. "Hello little princess, you are as beautiful as your mama."

She was wearing a simple red velour dress, and looked at Morgan with a slobbery baby smile and wide, happy eyes. He kissed her head, and laid her on the bed. The bed he'd gotten pretty comfortable sleeping in the last several days. He grabbed the tights Emily had left on the bed, and began gently working them onto Addy's little legs while he spoke to her and tickled her belly.

Emily poked her head out from the bathroom, mascara wand in hand, teeth worrying her lip. "Mo-Derek," she amended, scolding herself. He seemed to have no problem calling her Emily, but she was having trouble breaking the habit of using his last name.

He looked at her, stopping tickling Addy for a minute, and noted the make-up. "I hope you aren't going to ask me to help with that, I don't think I'd be very good."

She smiled. "No, make-up I can handle. I was just wondering...whatever it is we're doing, we're keeping that between ourselves for now, right?"

"Well, I hadn't planned on sticking my tongue down your throat in front of Hotch, but I hadn't really thought about it. But yeah, it might be easier to keep it to ourselves for a while, and if that's what you want, it's fine with me."

She nodded, and seemed to relax, breathing again. "So, we have to keep our hands to ourselves tonight."

Morgan lifted Addy into his arms, and walked over to her, pressing a kiss to her lips. "I can behave if you can."

"I'll hold myself back," she teased, and pulled the mascara wand away from Addy's reaching hand. The baby began to cry then, and Emily sighed.

Morgan shifted her to lay against his shoulder, and rubbed circles in her back. "It's alright, you don't need that. Shhh...come on now."

Her cries began to quiet until she gave a whimper, and a rather dramatic sigh.

"I'll need about five more minutes, then I'll be ready to go," Emily said.

"Sure. I'm going to put her in her crib, and start getting things in the car. Does she need to be fed before we go?"

"Nope, I fed her before I started getting dressed, and I pumped earlier, so we'll have a bottle if she gets hungry later, which I'm sure she will." Emily ran a hand over Addy's back and head.

Morgan smirked. "That's good, I wasn't sure what kind of acrobatics you'd have to use to feed her while in that dress, though I certainly wouldn't have minded seeing."

Emily just rolled her eyes.

He was about to leave, but stopped himself. "What about my mother?"

She blinked at him. "I'm going to need the other half of that question."

"Are we telling her about us?"

"Uh, I don't know...I guess that's your call. Do you want to tell her?"

He nodded. "I want her to know."

Emily pecked him on the lips, and smiled. "Then we'll tell her."

* * *

Hotch had decided to let Jack pick out his own clothes for the party, and was waiting patiently in the living room for his son to make an appearance. It was their second Christmas without Haley, and it had been a hard year. The five year-old was incredibly resilient and surprisingly mature for his age though, he handled it all well, and was excited to have guests over for a party. Tonight was the team, tomorrow was Jessica's and he'd get to play with his cousins, and Christmas was just the two of them. Peace and quiet, new toys for Jack, and movies and junk food. Sean might show up, but he wasn't holding his breath.

Tonight, everyone was bringing food in a potluck fashion, and he had a ham in the oven that Garcia had given him extremely detailed instructions on. He had decent carving skills, but his cooking repertoire was rather limited. They also had a platter of gingerbread cookies he and Jack had made and decorated. Well he did most of the making, and Jack handled most of the decorating. And, the making was based off a box of Betty Crocker mix. Their success had enhanced his good mod, and positive feelings about the evening. It would be nice to get the team together for something other than murders or medical crises. Most of them were closer to each other than they were their immediate families anyway, the exceptions being Morgan and Reid, both good sons to their mothers.

A little figure ran around the couch, and shuffled up on the couch. "Are they going to be here soon, Daddy?"

Jack had more Haley in him than he did Hotchner, especially in his face. "Soon buddy."

He'd dressed himself in black slacks and a sweater, just like his daddy. Hotch was both touched and mildly concerned about the hero-worship, because what was going to happen when he realized his daddy wasn't really a superhero?

"Do you want to plug the tree in, Jack?" The little boy nodded enthusiastically, and scrambled off the couch. Hotch watched him pick up the plug, and carefully stick it in the outlet. The white lights on the tree sprung to life, bringing instant warmth to the room. Jack started back toward the couch, but froze at the sound of the doorbell. He glanced at his father and then raced for the door, but didn't open it, waiting instead for Hotch.

"Merry Christmas," Garcia greeted, happily when he opened the door. She was decked out head to toe in red and green Christmas cheer, even down to her tiny Christmas light earrings. Kevin was behind her, laden like a pack mule.

"Merry Christmas, come on in," Hotch moved aside to let them in.

Garcia saw Jack and looked between the two Hotchners, before a smile broke out on her face. "Oh, you match, that's so cute!"

"I let Jack pick out his own outfit."

"That doesn't surprise me." She leaned down to Jack's level. "Your daddy showed me a picture of your Halloween costume, I thought it was super awesome."

He smiled shyly. "Thank you." He bit his lip, then blurted loudly, "We made cookies."

"Really? Can I see them?"

Jack nodded, and took the hand Garcia offered, happily leading her toward the dining room.

Hotch took the food from Kevin, and let him handle the bag of gifts for the kids. They didn't buy anything for each other, but decided to get gifts for the three kids. He didn't mention that to Jack, but decided he'd let it be a surprise.

Soon the others began arriving, and his usually quiet house seemed to burst to life with happy greetings and excited little boy voices. It also became apparent that there was going to be too much food, as his dining room table filled up quickly. He rearranged dishes and bottles of wine, and trying to cram more onto the table than there was room to fit.

Then Jack started frantically calling for him from the living room.


	9. Chapter 9

There wasn't even a full minute between when Jack started yelling for his dad, and when Hotch came rushing into the living room already on the verge of panic. Emily watched his eyes scan and land on Jack, who was by the french doors that led onto the back porch. He was half behind the drapes, and seven of the nine adults in the room went to reach for weapons they weren't carrying, herself included.

Jack looked up as his father. "It's snowing, Daddy."

And just like that, hands dropped, bodies relaxed, and they started drifting toward windows. Hotch pulled the drape back to see, and nodded. "Yes it is."

"Can I go outside and play?"

Hotch studied the little boy, whose baby-face was upturned like an eager little cherub. The Unit Chief sighed, and finally nodded. "But you put on your snow suit, and you're really warm hat and glove set, the one grandma got you."

Jack was already dancing with excitement, but Garcia caught him before he could run off. "Wait, I want pictures before we do anything else." She looked down at Jack. "Do you mind?"

He adopted a blank face, not dissimilar to his fathers, the tiniest trickle of disappointment showing through. Clearly he did, but was too polite to say.

"How about this, you smile for me a little, and I'll come out with you, and help you throw snowballs at your dad?"

Jack's eyes lit up again, and he nodded his head, shooting a mischievous grin at his father.

Garcia shrugged at him. "Sorry, Hotch."

He just rolled his eyes.

* * *

Emily and Rossi were the only ones left inside, standing together at a window, watching seven adults and three small kids play in the snow. Garcia, Kevin and Jack had teamed up against Hotch and Reid, pelting each other with snowballs, though obviously trying not to hit Jack. JJ and Will were teaching Henry to roll snowballs and Will was playing human shield for any stray snowballs that flew at his son. And, Morgan was sitting on the house steps, Addy in the snow between his feet, studying the white powder with extreme interest. She was buddled tightly, and leaning against one of his legs.

"It's a nice image," Rossi said.

She glanced at him. "Yeah, it's nice to be together without crime scenes photos and police reports."

"My grandmother, this tiny old Sicilian woman who was at least part spitfire, used to say that as long as a family had children, it was wealthy. That children remind tired, overworked adults to take joy in life, to smile often and laugh even more. That a man who knows how to enjoy his life, even during hardship, is more wealthy than a man with a handful of diamonds."

Emily turned to him. "Yet, you never had any children of your own?"

He kind of cocked his head to the side. "I had three marriages end in hatred, I can't imagine I'd have been more successful with children."

"Do you regret it?"

"Sometimes, I guess...but I'm pretty happy with what I've got." He smiled. "What about you, you seem to have taken well to motherhood, considering how much notice you got."

She rolled her eyes. "I still have nightmares about that flight."

"Well, you will go down in Bureau history, my dear. Academy instructors will tell bright-eyed cadets that story, and the woman that gave birth in the bathroom of the BAU jet will be infamous."

"Great, exactly what I want to be infamous for."

He chuckled. "Could be for worse things. Besides, I know of at least one person who is very grateful that your birth control failed."

"Yeah," she said, turning back to the window, watching Morgan lift Addy up into his lap. She was watching the snowball fight, having grown tired of playing with the snow. "That still kind of surprises me sometimes."

"That he adapted to the father role so quickly?"

Emily bit her lip. "You know how they say a woman becomes a mother when she finds out she's pregnant, and a man becomes a father after he holds his child...I think he started to become her father the first time he held her in the NICU. He had this look on his face, I didn't realize it until recently, but I think that's what it was..."

Rossi didn't ask for clarification, but instead an amused smirk popped up on his face. "And, when he looks at you, what's that look?"

Emily frowned at him, and chose not to answer.

"Be silent, but I'm going to give you a bit of advice. I know what it looks like when two people care deeply about each other, and I know that Hotch does as well, you two can't hide this for long."

She didn't get to answer, and wouldn't have known what to say anyway. The front door suddenly flew open, and cold air and voices burst into the home.

* * *

Morgan had been watching her for the past twenty minutes, and could tell her patience was wearing out quickly. She'd served herself with only minimal difficulty, and had no trouble with the side dishes. It was the ham that was the problem. Emily had purposely avoided eating any her first several bites, and then stared at her slices of ham for a couple minutes, seemingly debating the best way to get it into her mouth.

She hated the cast, and even more hated how much it hampered her in simple daily activities. Morgan knew that Emily still hadn't forgiven herself for nearly dropping Addy in the bathtub, and still worried that the injury would cause her to inadvertently hurt the baby. After three weeks with it, she was struggling to keep her frustration in check. The inability to accomplish the fairly simple task of cutting and eating a piece of ham was likely driving her crazy under her calm veneer.

He resisted the urge to wince as she tried cutting the meat with her fork, to little success. Morgan watched her stop, and take a breath, calming herself before she started cursing. Knowing he might be risking life and limb, he gently nudged her. When she turned, he gestured with his knife, and with a sigh, she gestured that it was okay. He carefully cut the ham for her, ignoring the sudden, albeit discrete attention on them.

"So Em," Garcia began, pulling the attention to herself, "when do you think you'll be coming back to work?"

She did not make eye contact when she answered. "Uh, I'm not sure I will be, at least to the team."

The entire table with the exceptions of them and Hotch seemed to freeze, and stared at her, and Morgan could feel Emily growing more uncomfortable by the minute. He let a hand drop from the table, and drift to her thigh, offering a supportive squeeze and resting there.

Emily ran her tongue over her top lip, and shifted in her seat. "I'd have to get a nanny to look after Addy when we travel, and honestly, the idea of leaving her alone with some stranger for days at a time...just doesn't sit right with me."

"Are you going to transfer to a desk then?" Rossi asked, the first to get his bearings back.

"Maybe, or a field job with less travel."

"Well honey, if you need someone to leave her with, you can leave her with me," Garcia said.

Emily's eyebrows rose. "We're gone at least twice a month, sometimes for a week or more, Garcia. You really want to deal with an infant full time for days at a time?"

"Who do you think takes Henry when you guys are out of town, and Will catches a new case? It's not a big deal, and it's not like Addy is a difficult baby."

The profiler nodded. "Okay, but if we're working a case, so are you. You could be stuck in the office till all hours of the night."

Garcia rolled her eyes. "Well, fortunately, she's very tiny, and there's this great new invention called a foldable crib."

Emily wasn't convinced yet. "And, when she gets bigger, and can make out what you're doing and saying?"

"How about we cross that bridge when we come to it?"

Morgan spoke when Emily looked at him, as if to ask 'what do you think'. "You really don't mind doing this?"

"Of course not. I wouldn't have offered if I wasn't willing," she insisted.

"As long as you're sure..." Emily began, "thank you."

Garcia smiled. "My pleasure."

"I guess I'm back in the field when I'm medically cleared then. I'll be in the office after Christmas though."

"I guess you two will be car pooling then?" There was a glint of suspicion in JJ's blue eyes as she addressed them.

"Yeah, considering I'll have to forcibly pull her away from the daycare after we drop Addy off," Morgan teased.

"You might have to," she agreed, then looked at JJ. "Any words of wisdom as far as separation anxiety goes?"

JJ sort of shrugged. "You really kind of have to ride through it. Just keep yourself as busy as possible."

At that moment, Addy started crying, making her presence known. She'd been sleeping in her car seat in the attached living room, where she was less likely to be disturbed by their voices. Emily started to move, but Morgan put a hand on her arm to stop her, and started getting up himself, only to find that Reid of all people, was on his feet, and retrieving Addy from her carrier.

He came back toward the table, Addy half reclined in his arms, now quiet, and the infant and genius looking into each other's eyes, seeming to study each other.

"You got her, Reid?" Morgan asked somewhat skeptically. Reid wasn't exactly known for being into kids, he'd barely been one himself, it was hard for him to relate.

He looked up, almost surprised. "Sure..." Then he smiled. "She's still so small."

"She's probably hungry, Spence," Emily informed him. "She may be small, but she eats like a teenage boy."

"Do you have a bottle?"

"I'll heat it up," Morgan said, and headed into the kitchen. When he returned with the heated bottle, Reid was sitting down, still studying Addy like he was trying to make sense of her. He nudged the younger man. "You want to feed her?"

"Sure." Reid took the bottle, and Addy accepted it without any fuss, but her eyes didn't leave Reid.

"Are you trying to read her mind, kid?" Morgan asked.

"No, I guess I'm just trying to understand it."

Morgan raised his eyebrows. "Understand what?"

"Babies." This only puzzled everyone further. Seeing this, he elaborated, focused mostly on Morgan. "There's an instant maternal instinct with a woman when she has a child, it's psychological survival mechanism dated back to when survival of a child was a constant question. A mother had to be very strongly emotionally attached to protect her children, to further the species. Even with a father, there's a biological imperative to protect his offspring, to provide for them. But, that doesn't explain why women become instantly emotional and fascinated at the sight of an infant, and that doesn't explain your instant connection with Addy."

Morgan was struck speechless for a moment, staring at the genius. He shook himself. "Okay...with the first thing, they're women, Reid. It's all hormones-"

"Hey," Garcia objected. Morgan cocked his head toward her, and with a dubious expression on his face.

He turned back to Reid. "You aren't going to figure out the second thing by studying her face. I haven't actually figured it out, it's just...something you feel."

"Daddy?" Jack tugged on Hotch's arm, drawing his attention.

"Do you want more food?" Hotch asked, looking at the boy's almost empty plate.

Jack popped a pea in his mouth with his fingers, and shook his head. "Daddy, where do babies come from?"

The whole table froze, and steadily turned amused smirks at Hotch, who glared at them in response.

Morgan chuckled. "Good luck with that, Hotch."

The Unit Chief shot him a look. "Just wait until Addy's old enough to ask that."

Jack wasn't letting him off the hook though; he watched his father thoughtfully as he munched on another pea.

Hotch sighed. "Jack, do you remember when you and mommy grew the sunflower? You put that tiny little seed in a cup, and after a while it became a big, yellow flower."

The little boy nodded. "Yeah, sunflowers are Mommy's favorite."

"That's right, she loved them because they are so bright and happy." Jack nodded his agreement, so Hotch pressed on. "That's where babies come from. When a mommy and a daddy love each other very much their love is like a seed, and it grows and grows until it one day, if they're really lucky, it blossoms into a little baby."

The little boy looked thoughtful, then he turned to Emily. "Where did you plant Addy?"

She nearly choked on her water, and cleared her throat, appearing slightly wide-eyed. "Uh…well, I kept her in my tummy. Just like your mommy kept you in her tummy, and Aunt JJ kept Henry in her tummy."

He frowned, and glanced at JJ. "How do you get them out when they're growed?"

The whole table went silent, no one quite sure how to come up with a child-safe answer. Finally, Morgan grinned at Reid, and said, "Uncle Spencer."

The laughter they were all barely holding in began creeping out then, causing chuckles all around the table. Reid just glared at Morgan, still cradling the child he'd delivered five months ago.

Jack stared around at the group, heavy thoughts evident on his young face as he settled on his father. "Daddy, I don't get it."

* * *

_Alright, I know this has been a little slow the last few chapters, but the meat of the story picks up again from here on out, starting with a visit to Morgan's family. So, thank you everyone that's stuck with it. Also, I know Jack doesn't refer to them as aunt and uncle, but considering they've more than implied they think of each other as family on the show, I felt like it made more sense for him to address them that way. Thanks for reading, and please review!_


	10. Chapter 10

December 24

Emily was so nervous, her stomach was tying itself in knots. And, she was fidgeting, driving Morgan-Derek, rather-crazy with it.

"Emily," he said, frustration leaking through his voice as they pulled onto his block, "Would you please relax? You're acting like we going to an Inquisition, my mother is not that scary. You have met her before."

"Yeah, when I was questioning her about you being a murder suspect."

"And, even under the circumstances, you made a good impression. Afterward, she told me you were very reassuring, and seemed like a nice young lady."

"Yeah?" She asked hopefully.

"Yes, and it's a good thing, because we're here." Emily followed his gaze to the small Chicago row house, and took a deep breath. Morgan killed the engine and squeezed her hand.

Emily carried Addy in her car seat, and Derek grabbed the bags, at least a couple of them. Addy had more luggage then either of them. He knocked on the door, and Fran answered quickly, smiling widely at them.

"Hi mama," he greeted happily.

She hugged him tightly. "Oh, I missed you. I don't get to see you nearly often enough."

"I know, I missed you too." He pulled away and gestured to Emily. "Mama, you remember Emily, and that little princess is Addy."

"Of course, Emily it's good to see you again, and under much better circumstances." Emily was a little startled by the hug, but went with it, and similarly followed Derek as Fran ushered them both in.

"It's nice to see you as well, Mrs. Morgan. Thank you for having us over."

"Oh honey, you can call me Fran, it's less formal. And, I'm so excited to finally see Addy, Derek has been going on and on about her for months." She smiled and gestured them to the sofa.

Emily sat, and set the carrier beside her, unbelting Addy, and unzipping the snowsuit that stood in for a coat and made the baby look like a starfish. She let Morgan get it off her, and bring her over to his mother, sitting beside her, and setting Addy in her arms. Emily's heartbeat was pounding out of control, because she knew what was coming.

"Mama, meet your first grandbaby." He seemed so proud when he said it, like Addy was the best thing he'd ever done.

Fran had been smiling at the baby, but looked up, surprise and confusion on her face. She obviously wasn't sure what he meant, knowing that her son didn't contribute DNA to the infant in her arms.

Morgan clarified, just as proud, and just as happy. "I adopted her, it went through a few weeks ago."

Fran stared between the two of them, eyes wide, mouth slightly open, evidently not prepared for that information. She was silent for at least a minute, looking between the two of them. Emily wished she'd say something, because her stomach was churning so violently, she might actually throw up_. __Please say you're happy about it, or you'll break your son's heart_, Emily begged silently in her head.

"Well," she finally said, "that's quite a surprise. I knew you were involved, Derek, but I didn't know you were that involved." Then she suddenly frowned. "Wait, did you get married?"

It was their turn to look stunned. Morgan offered a nervous chuckle. "No Mama, it's called a second parent adoption."

She nodded, then froze again. "You are seeing each other though?"

"Yes, we started seeing each other," he said.

She sighed with relief, and looked at Emily. "Thank goodness, I put you together in Derek's old room."

"That's fine," Emily assured her. "We've been sleeping together for a couple weeks." As soon as it came out of her mouth, her eyes widened, and she quickly tried to correct it. "In the same bed, we've been sleeping in the same bed." Emily blushed a deep crimson, and briefly closed her eyes in horror.

Morgan began to chuckle and she shot him a glare. He held up his hands in surrender, though her was still looking rather amused. Fran Morgan was also looking rather amused, but soon turned her attention to Addy. Garcia and JJ had picked out a girlie little jumper set while she was in the hospital, and assured her that Addy would be irresistible. She was pretty cute in it.

Fran tickled her, and Addy giggled and tried to grab at her hands. She smiled at the baby, and then looked up at Emily. "She's absolutely beautiful, Emily."

She released a pent up breath. "Thank you...Derek has been an absolute godsend since she was born."

She smiled at her son. "He's always been a good boy."

Emily was amused to see him look slightly bashful. "I always thought he was a nice guy."

Fran looked between them, then at Addy, and finally at Derek. "Does this mean I can look forward to more grandbabies?"

Derek drew back. "What? Mama, I just put one in your lap, and you're already asking for more?"

"I told you I want a whole bunch of them."

He let his head dropped dramatically. "Addy is only four months old, and Emily and I barely started dating, at least wait to Easter before you ask for more."

The older woman's eyes lit up. "So you'll all be coming to Chicago for Easter?"

Morgan turned to Emily, and she just shrugged. It was fine with her, it's not like she had standing Easter plans. He turned back to his mother. "Sure we will, work permitting."

Fran was about to speak when the door opened, and the girls poured in, squealing at the sight of their brother. He got up to greet them with hugs, and pulled them over into the living room.

"Sarah, Desi, I believe you met Emily, and the little angel in mama's lap is your niece, Addy." He didn't seem nervous at all, and yet Emily was feeling queasy again.

The girls had the same reaction as their mother, freezing and exchanging a confused look, until they were both satisfied that neither knew what was going on. Sarah was the one who asked. "I seem to remember a conversation a couple months ago where you told me you met Addy's father, and hated him on sight."

Emily resisted the urge to smirk at that, she knew Derek hated Max. Part of it was that Max had abandoned his child, which Morgan found unforgivable, but also because for eight weeks, Max was the only person who could take over the role he'd adopted in Addy's life.

"You remember correctly, but we started the adoption process shortly after that, and it went through three weeks ago," he explained.

Confusion turned to surprise, but Desi shook it off quickly, and sat down beside her mother, holding her hands out for Addy. Reluctantly, Fran handed her over, and both women proceeded to play with her, Fran glancing up only once at her other children, noting the tension, but seeming to decide to let them handle it themselves.

"Derek, kitchen." And, without another word, Sarah headed into the room. Emily felt like throwing up.

* * *

"What's wrong, Sarah?" Morgan closed the kitchen door, and crossed his arms over his chest. He was feeling more than a little defensive, Sarah knew how much Addy meant to him, and couldn't fathom what she was upset about.

"I'm worried about you." The hostility she'd used as a mask slipped, and all he saw was over-protectiveness.

"Why?"

She sighed as if he was being an idiot. "Derek, I know you are in love with this child, but have you thought about this long-term?"

"Of course, I thought about it. You think I made this decision without thinking?"

"I had considered the thought."

He glared at her.

Again she sighed, and leaned marble-topped counter, the one that had been a gift from all three of them the first year they all had real jobs. They wanted their mama to have something nice, something she'd never thought to buy herself because she was always taking care of them.

"What if Emily gets married someday? What if that man wants to be father to his step-child? What happens then? What if you get married? You think a woman is going to overlook how close you are to a female friend, the enormous part you play in her child's life? You think any man will overlook your part in Emily's life?"

"Sarah…we're seeing each other, so most of that is irrelevant now."

Her eyebrows rose. "And you think that is a fix-all? You work together, Derek, how the hell are you going to explain this to your boss? I doubt the FBI is okay with it's agents seeing each other, or god knows, getting married. And, if it doesn't work out? Break-ups are miserable, and the people usually end up hating each other. Where does that leave Addy?"

"If it ends badly we'll deal with it. We'll insulate Addy from it. And, we're trying to take it slow. We'll tell Hotch when it gets serious," he explained. It's not like he hadn't thought about any of this, he had, but they were happy, and he wanted to enjoy that happiness.

"Serious? Are you kidding, Derek? _You adopted the woman's child_. How much more serious does it get?"

Morgan threw his hands up, and clenched them in fists. "Damn it, Sarah. I know it's a weird situation, but we're navigating the best we can and we're happy with whatever it is we've got. Would you be like this if I'd just started dating a woman with a kid, or is there something specific about Emily and Addy that bothers you?"

"The difference with those two scenarios, Derek? You are already in love with that baby. When you called mama about the car accident, worried about Emily and Addy, she said you were about crying, scared out of your wits. She was all upset, the last time she saw you cry was when you told us what that bastard Buford did to you when you were a kid. And, before that it was when Daddy died. That little baby girl already stole your heart, and Derek, if it comes to bad blood between you and Emily, then, unless she gets addicted to crack, no one is going to be giving you custody. You'll get to see Addy every other weekend, Thursdays and two holidays out of the year. And, I _know_ that would break your heart, and I don't want to see my favorite brother's heart broken."

He ran a hand over his head, and the fight seemed to deflate from him. "Is that what you're worried about? Well, I'm not going to say it's impossible for it to go bad or for us to end up hating each other. But, it is damn unlikely, and I don't believe for a minute that Emily would ever keep Addy away from me."

Sarah looked slightly hopeful. "You know her that well, do you, brother?"

"Busting into a house of an armed psycho with only your gun, your wits, and your trust that your partner has your back, that teaches you things about a person that you'd never learn anywhere else. Yes, _that much_ I do know about her." Such was the nature of their job. And, then there was everything he'd learned about during and since Addy's birth.

His sister finally nodded, looking hopeful and worried at the same time. He rolled his eyes. "Fine, if she breaks my heart, I'll fly out here, and you can let me cry on your shoulder, and we'll watch chick movies and eat ice cream. That's what you and Desi do, right?"

In response she thwacked the back of his head.

"Hey!" He yelped.

"What, big tough FBI man can't take a smack from his little sister?"

"Big tough FBI man does not come home to be abused," he retorted. Then he put his hands on his hips. "By the way, favorite brother? Unless Mama forgot to tell me something I am your _only_ brother."

She snorted. "You think I'd pick you if I had another option?"

"What? Now, that's not—" But she was already walking out. He followed her, objecting behind her. "Mama, she's abusing your baby boy again."

His mother rolled her eyes. "I thought the sibling squabbles ended at 30?"

He and his sisters chuckled, as he took a seat beside Emily, and Sarah headed straight for Addy. She held out her hands. "Alright, my turn to hold her."

In minutes she was hoisting Addy on her hip, bouncing her around and smiling at her. Addy was smiling too, so far unbothered by the affection of strangers. Emily nudged him to get his attention, looked him in the eyes, and tilted her head toward Sarah.

"It's all fine," he assured her.

* * *

Sarah pushed the shopping cart through the grocery store, Addy in the attached baby seat, attempting to pull off her shoes, and Emily trying to keep up beside her. Sarah shopped like it was a mission, and never deviated from the list her mother provided. Emily figured this wasn't an unusual occurrence. She wished she could be half as efficient shopping, but she had to constantly debate whether it was worth buying something, considering she could get called out of town for a few days or a week at any minute.

Fran had fed them all brunch, then told Derek that she'd waited until he was home to get a tree, so he best take her to go get one. Desi went with them, and she decided to tag along on Sarah's shopping trip. It's not like she was much use with the busted arm-for anything-but it felt weird to stay in the house alone, and she wanted to talk to Sarah anyway. The discussion she and Derek had seemed to alleviate the woman's concerns, but frankly, Emily was concerned that she even had concerns. Now, she just had to get up the nerve to ask her.

"Sarah, are you okay with this...?" She finally managed, as the other woman studied the display of sweet potatoes.

"With what?" Sarah glanced at her. "Oh, you mean you and Derek?"

"And," Emily gestured to Addy.

Sarah turned completely to her, a sweet potato in each hand, which she seemed to have forgotten she was holding. "I have no problem with you or your daughter, I just worry about my brother."

"Anything in particular that you're worried about now?"

Sarah picked four medium sized potatoes, just as the list directed, and tossed the plastic bag in the cart. Then she pushed the cart toward a less trafficked area, and turned to Emily. "For the last twenty years, my brother has been a player. It's easy for him, because he's a beautiful man, and women have always fallen all over him. Desi and I have ragged on him about it, and even my mother knows this, but chooses to pretend she doesn't. The point is, he's never given any indication that he plans to, or even wants to settle down, now or ever. Then, in August he calls our mother, and tells her about this baby he held, and he doesn't have to say he's awed by it, because she can hear it in his voice, and he tells her this unbelievable story of his friend giving birth on an airplane, and I spoke to him the next day, I could still hear that in his voice, awe or whatever it was. We're a close family, we talk all the time and keep up with each other's business, and pretty soon, he's always excited to say something about Addy. Now today, he tells us he's adopted this child. My brother, the player with no interest in settling down up until the day that little girl came into this world. So, I'm left wondering what's going on with Derek, in that he suddenly feels the need to be father to this child."

Emily blinked, and finally said. "Yeah, I wonder about that too."

Now it was Sarah's turn to look surprised, and if Emily was interpreting right, a little amused.

The profiler smirked. "What, you think I'm not familiar with Derek's...dating habits? I've teased him about it before, and I aware how, uh strange this all is, but honestly the last four or five months have just been a whole lot of weird and confusing. And, I know it's still confusing to him sometimes too, but I think the one thing he is sure of, is that Addy is his daughter."

"And, how sure are you of that?"

"What do you mean?"

"I'm mean if it goes bad between you two, will you give him fair custody rights?"

Emily's mouth fell open and closed as she physically moved back in shock. "Honestly, I haven't thought much about if it all goes to hell, but I know that nothing will change that he is and will be a good father to her. I would never keep them apart."

Sarah nodded, "You're right, he will." Then she sighed. "Let's finish this list, I don't want to miss Derek trying to heave that tree into the house."

Emily smiled, still unsure of the other woman's feelings, and followed her to get the last few items on the list. At the door, she slid Addy into her snowsuit, and Sarah handled the groceries-there was only one brown bag. She held Addy in her good arm as they fought through the throngs of people going in and out of the store. Emily was struggling to make out what Sarah was saying to her when someone slammed into her, nearly knocking her down. As she was trying to get her balance back, Addy was being pulled from her arms. The street was so crowded, she couldn't even figure out where Sarah was, as she struggled to hold on to Addy. She failed.

Addy began to cry, and Emily followed the noise with her eyes to a young woman. Dark skin, thigh-high boots over bright purple leggings, big hoop earings, and a coat left open to expose her ample cleavage. She could have been a hooker.

"Hey! Hey!" Emily ran after the woman, barely catching Sarah's alarmed eyes, as she pursued the woman. "Damn it! Stop! FBI stop!"

The woman slowed down at the mouth of an alley, and turned it. Emily desperately wished she had her gun, or at least two working arms. She stopped in the mouth of the alley and turned cautiously.

The woman had delivered Addy to a man, also dark-skinned, late thirties, early forties, fit, facial hair and sunglasses. He was sitting on the hood of a black, tricked-out Charger with spinning rims, and racing stripes. She would bet her next five paychecks that this man holding her daughter was carrying, probably something small, and that the car held at least one automatic weapon.

"You're Derek Morgan's girl," he said, exposing bleached white teeth in the smile of a predator.

* * *

_Yes, another cliffhanger, but this chapter is super long, so I figure it's even. Thanks everyone that reviewed the last chapter!_


	11. Chapter 11

Addy was still crying, and the stranger bounced her gently, trying to soothe her, his maybe-hooker companion half draped beside him, shooting territorial glares at Emily.

Sarah catching up distracted all of them. She glanced at the man holding Addy, and rolled her eyes. "Rodney Harris...of course. Only you're asshole enough to yank a crying child out of her mother's arms."

Emily recognized that name. The gangbanger that liked to give Morgan a hard time, the reason he ended up with a juvenile record.

"That's not nice, Sarah. This little one is fine, and," he glanced at Emily, "we were just getting acquainted, weren't we babydoll?"

She didn't flinch. "Give me back my child."

He rested Addy on his shoulder, and began rubbing circles over her back. Emily tensed. "Now, I'm not surprised Derek went for a white girl, his mama is white, but still, it's funny that his baby girl doesn't look a thing like him."

"He adopted her," Sarah was quick to defend.

Harris chuckled. "I should've figured he couldn't get it up after what Buford did to him. Messed him up good, I reckon."

"He can get it up just fine. Now, give me back my child," Emily repeated.

"I alerted a cop, Rodney. They'll be here any minute," Sarah said.

"It s'alright, you can come on over here and get her whenever you want, babydoll."

Emily approached cautiously, stopping a foot from Harris, and gesturing with her arm.

"You better get closer than that. It's alright sweetheart, I don't bite." He grinned, a smarmy, malicious grin.

Emily moved closer, resting a hand on Addy's back, and being instantly comforted by it. Harris nudged the woman who'd taken Addy a little away, to give Emily room, and she glared at the profiler through heavily made-up, drugged-out eyes.

"You take her if you want her," Harris said.

She knew exactly what he was doing, but played into it anyway, anything just to get Addy back. Stepping, close enough to grab the baby with one arm put their bodies nearly touching. Harris kept a hold of the baby as Emily tried to pull. His fingers went to her hip, ducking underneath her coat, rubbing the area intimately.

Emily seethed. "You give her to me now, or I report you for kidnapping the child of two federal agents, and I'll make sure I go to the CPD gang task force. They'll jump on it, and tear your world apart looking for her, and they'll find your guns, drugs, underage girls, or whatever it is you're into. Give me my child."

And, he did. But, not before smacking his hips against her, pressing his erection into her groin, and whispering close to her ear. "Tell Derek I said to watch out, I find myself suddenly all hot and bothered by his woman, I might want a sample."

She glared at him, not flinching, gripped Addy tightly to her chest, and marched back to Sarah and out of the alley.

* * *

Why his mother needed a six-foot tree was beyond him, but she'd fallen instantly in love with an incredibly full spruce, and insisted that, that was the tree she wanted. Even when he said the four and a half foot pine made more sense for the size of her house. And, how was she getting it back out after it's gone? Apparently, in addition to lawn mowing, leaf raking, and snow shoveling, the neighborhood boys also removed Christmas trees when people were finished with them.

He wasn't sure how he felt about a bunch of neighborhood kids shaking down his mama for a tree disposal payment. She'd laughed when he voiced that, and Desi told him he spent too much time on the job.

This was all at the same time they were incessantly grilling him on Emily, and everything about her they'd been too polite and unsure to ask about over the phone. He was dating her now, they had right to know more about her-their words. They found her to be rather impressive, and though Morgan really hadn't thought much about it since she joined the team, Prentiss was pretty impressive on paper.

Ivy league educated, successful career, daughter to a US ambassador, grew up mostly over seas and undoubtedly attended some impressive international boarding schools, speaks...well, he didn't actually know how many languages she spoke. Of course, had Morgan only seen her on paper, he'd have guessed she was probably stuck-up and stuffy, and had no interest in her. Emily Prentiss was definitely neither, and his interest in her was rather obvious.

"Desi get the door so I can drag this monster inside," he instructed, gesturing with his chin.

She rushed to get the door, and held it open for him, as he played He-Man, untied it from the car roof, and dragged it into the house. "You have the tree stand, Mama?"

"Right here." She rushed over with the red metal stand, and Derek went to work fitting it. The ceilings were eight feet tall, so he didn't have to do any trimming to get it to fit, even with the angel on top.

He felt eyes on him, and glanced up to find Emily watching him looking mildly amused, Addy sleeping under a blanket on her chest. And, there was something else in her eyes, something almost nervous in the way she was rhythmically running her hand over the baby's back.

Looking away, Morgan tightened the screws into the tree, and slowly lifted it to stand up. When he let it go, he kept his hands close in case it wasn't sturdy, and sighed with relief with it didn't teeter. Then he flopped down on the sofa beside Emily, and ran a finger over Addy's cheek.

"Everything okay?" He asked.

Before Emily could answer, Sarah came out of the kitchen. "Derek, we ran into Rodney Harris."

His body instantly tensed and his pulse quickened. He looked between them. "Did he hurt either of you? Or Addy?"

Emily shook her head, and sighed heavily. "No, he was just trying to scare me."

"Yeah, somehow he knew she was in town, and who she is to you." Sarah stood by the couch, and Fran and Desi walked in with boxes of decoration, setting them down, and joining Sarah, well aware of the unexpected tension in the room.

Emily and Sarah told him what happened, Sarah still pissed, Emily more shaken up than anything else. And, Morgan grew angrier and angrier as he listened. Harris had held his daughter, had comforted his baby girl, had put his hands on Emily, but he kept his temper in check until the end. Emily reluctantly admitted what Sarah didn't even know, what Harris had threatened, and Morgan had never been so angry in his life.

His body nearly trembling with tension, Morgan kissed the back of Addy's head, and Emily's cheek. "I've got to go take care of this."

"What? Take care of what?" Emily asked startled.

"Harris." He was on his feet, heading toward the door, and he was still in his coat, so he didn't even need to grab it.

"Are you nuts? That's what he wants, Derek. He wants you to attack him unprovoked," she insisted, moving from the couch.

He spun to face her. "Unprovoked? What exactly is your definition of provocation?"

"Fine, yes, this was his attempt to provoke you, but you'll still be the one starting the fight."

"Oh no, he started the fight the minute he put his hands on my family," Morgan seethed, grabbing the doorknob, and pushing outside, slamming it behind him. He stormed down the pathway to the sidewalk, not looking back when the door opened and shut, or to the sound of footsteps behind him.

"Morgan-Derek, damn it, stop a minute." Emily was following, sounding almost as angry as he felt. Didn't she get it?

Harris could have hurt Addy. He could have attacked Emily in that alley, and Sarah wouldn't have been able to do much beside yell for the cops. The thought of Rodney Harris putting his hands all over Emily made him feel physically sick. That the son of a bitch had gotten that close, had one of his girls grab Addy right out of Emily's arms, or arm rather, it made him see red.

"Derek, stop please," she called, jogging, and when he heard Addy begin to cry, he finally stopped and turned to her. He didn't expect her to still have Addy with her.

"It's too cold for her out here, go back inside."

"Just listen to me for a minute, alright?"

He nodded, but only because he knew she was stubborn enough to chase after him, baby or no.

"If you go over there and attack him, you'll be doing exactly what he wants, Derek, and you know it. I didn't even want to tell you, but I didn't want to hide it from you either. He didn't really hurt us, he just tried to scare us, and frankly, once you've flirted with a couple serial killers, some two-bit gangbanger isn't that scary." Morgan went to open his mouth, but Emily cut him off. "Wait, I'm not finished...If you attack him, if you kill him, you will lose your badge, and you will be sent to prison. I don't want to lose you, and I don't want to have to explain to Addy why her father is in prison."

Morgan pressed his lips together, and brought his hands to his head, turning about in frustration. She was right, he knew that, but he was still pissed and scared, and wanted to rip Harris's head off. He dropped his arms, and looked Emily in the eyes. "I can't just ignore this. What if he tries it again?"

"Sarah had alerted the cops, we filed a complaint against Harris, it's on record. He bothers me again, we get a restraining order, he violates that, he goes to prison," she said.

"That's two more times I might have to let him get near you, what if one of those times he actually hurts you or Addy? I can't risk that, Emily."

"He won't. He's not going to risk assaulting a federal agent and her infant, he doesn't want to go to prison. He just wants to antagonize you." Her voice was soft, almost calm, but he knew it was a cover, underneath it she was practically begging him not to go.

Morgan didn't speak, he was too torn to vocalize a response. He wanted to rip Rodney Harris to pieces, but he knew Emily was right.

Emily suddenly sniffled. "Fine, but if you have to go, you say goodbye to Addy first." She moved close to him, gestured him toward the crying baby, then she looked away, refusing to meet his eyes, her voice cracking as she spoke. "If you do this, you won't see her for two to fifteen years, so you hold her and you tell her you love her, so if you're still in prison when she's old enough to ask, I can at least tell her that."

He sighed, and took the crying baby, bouncing her gently to soothe her, kissing the top of her head. Emily was still looking away, running her tongue over her lip in that nervous mannerism she had. Morgan grabbed her good hand, and tugged her close against his body, pressing a kiss to her head. "You're shivering."

"It's cold," she said.

"Let's get inside." She didn't move immediately, but gave him a soft squeeze, what he took to be a thank you. He squeezed her back, and said. "You don't think that was maybe a little melodramatic?"

She snorted as they began to walk back to the house. "It worked, didn't it?"

* * *

Somehow, walking into a church unmarried, with a child born out of wedlock, and the man you're currently involved with seemed...well, she knew a priest in Rome that would have some choice words for her. These would be delivered with a headshake, and a disappointed comment that some things don't change. Maybe that's why her mouth was suddenly dry, and her palms were sweaty, barely two feet from the church.

The heady scent of incense assaulted her nose as soon as they hit the door, and Emily was struck with memories, namely the fears of a young girl under the glare of an old man. It was large and ornate as only a Catholic church can be, with candles burning bright, colored stained glass stretching up toward the ceiling, and the carved stone depictions of the stations of the cross. The organ was already thrumming, calling the parishioners inside for midnight mass.

There was something terribly oppressive about churches like this, like all the judgment in the world was beating down on the sinners who came and begged for forgiveness. A near life size crucifix was hanging up on the wall behind the pulpit, and people were milling around, greeting each other with Merry Christmases and how have you beens. An older priest was up front, smiling gently and taking people's hands, welcoming them in. Why didn't she remember a single welcoming priest in the years she went to church?

"Hey, you okay?" Morgan asked, wiggling her hand.

"Yeah, it's just been a while since I went to church, and I'm walking in with a child I had out of wedlock, and a man that's not the one who got me pregnant." Addy was in the baby sling, nestled against Emily's chest.

"I was taught that God loves all children, regardless of how they're created."

"Fran." Her name was spoken in boisterous greeting by the older priest that had been welcoming people. He took her hand, and wished her a Merry Christmas.

"Father Daniels, Merry Christmas," Fran spoke warmly. "The new nativity in the vestibule is breath-taking."

"Thank you. We had to retire the old set, it was hard to part with, but it was getting a bit worn. Sarah, Desire, it's lovely to see you." He greeted the girls with smiles, and then settled on Morgan.

"Derek, I only see you twice a year, but I suppose I should be grateful to the devils of the world that at least they leave you free those days," he said.

Derek shook his hand, but didn't seem to hold the same warmth as Fran and the girls did. His relationship with his religion was only a bit better than hers. "Father Daniels, Merry Christmas, and this is-"

"No need, I recall their names," he said, taking Emily's hand. "I've asked my congregation to pray for you and your daughter twice, on Fran's request. I'm glad your doing well after the accident, Emily."

"Thank you, Father."

"I'm pleased you and Adelyn could join us tonight. I christened Derek you know, gave him his first communion, and oversaw his confirmation, though he only actually made it to classes when his mother threatened him. Anyway, it's nice to see him starting his own family." He smiled, and hurried off to greet the next parishioner.

Emily turned to Morgan and smirked. "You skipped confirmation class?"

He snorted. "I bet you didn't even go to yours."

"I was living in Lebanon at that age, so I had no classes to skip."

"Is that why this place makes you so nervous, you skipped a step as a kid and you're afraid they'll find out?" He teased.

Emily settled beside him in a pew. "If only...no...ask me again someday, I'll tell you."

Morgan raised his eyebrows at that, but let it pass. She looked down the pew at Fran. "Thank you for asking them to pray for us, that means a lot."

She smiled. "Of course."

Father Daniels approached the pulpit then, and a hush drew over the room as people dropped to their knees for the opening prayer. With Addy attached to her, Emily opted out, but did bow her head, a show of respect more than faith. Everyone shifted back onto their seats as he began his sermon, and Morgan threaded his fingers with hers. Christmas Eve was mass was the only one she ever liked, it was shorter than the rest, because it featured the children's nativity pageant. And, soon enough he ended with a smile, and a precession of little angels with electric candles appeared and disappeared. Then one of the older children began orating the story of Christmas, while other kids acted it out.

An hour later, Emily was already starting to nod off, and Derek had to keep nudging her, always with an amused little grin on his face. She found herself slightly jealous of young girl playing Mary when the birth was done in voice over, and baby Jesus (a doll) suddenly appeared in the manger. When it ended, Father Daniels finished his sermon, they all stood and exchanged greetings of peace, and finally ended with a prayer. The priest headed to the back of the church, and positioned himself to begin receiving people, most of whom shuffled out slowly and looked as tired as she felt.

"Hey Derek!" The voice was a young man's and there was something vaguely familiar about it.

"James," he greeted the dark-skinned teenager that approached them.

He'd grown up a lot, taller now, with the broader shoulders of man, but still the slim physique of a boy. And, he had facial hair, not dissimilar to Derek's, and a slightly deeper voice. He was a good-looking kid, and Emily made a mental reminder to ask Fran to see photo albums tomorrow. Derek Morgan through the years, now that was a treat.

"How've you been doing, kid?" Derek asked him, shaking his hand.

"Good, I'm in college now, on a football scholarship."

"Yeah, you making good grades?"

He smiled, proudly. "An A, a C, and three Bs."

"What's the C in?"

"Spanish."

Derek frowned. "You have to take a language?"

James nodded. "Yeah, I would have failed but, I'm dating a Puerto Rican girl now," he paused and grinned, "private tutoring."

Morgan chuckled. "Yeah, you just be careful that all that private tutoring doesn't interfere with the rest of your school work."

"Yeah, I know...what about you, I'm not the only one who's been busy." He looked at Emily. "I met you a few years ago, right? After Darryl was killed."

Emily nodded. "I'm glad you're doing well, James."

"Thanks..." He looked back at Derek. "You're a dad now?"

Morgan smiled, and gently pulled the edge of the baby sling back. "That's our baby girl, Addy."

"She's cute." He turned when a voice called his name, then back to them. "That's my mama, I have to go. It was good to see you."

"You too," Derek barely got out before James took off toward his mother.

Emily turned to him. "Is the youth center still open?"

"Yeah, good people are running in it now." She gave his hand a squeeze, and he gave her a tired smile.

"You know," he said, "it's midnight, Addy's first Christmas."

* * *

_Sorry guys, I meant to get it up earlier, but just didn't have the time. It's long though, so at least there's that. Also, it's been well over a decade since I went to Christmas Eve mass, so I don't really remember the order of things. Sorry, if I got that wrong._

_This story is winding down, probably about three or so more chapters. Thanks for reading, and everybody that has reviewed!_


	12. Chapter 12

Emily blinked her eyes into the morning light, and turned to find that her companion was gone. Her eyes searched for a clock next, and she squinted in disbelief when she saw it was only seven. What was he doing up this early? She glanced into the basinet, and was surprised again to find Addy not there. And, if she was already awake, she'd be hungry. Emily dug around in the diaper bag for a clean bottle, and hunted for the breast pump.

She yawned as she headed downstairs, full bottle in hand, and turned toward the kitchen when she heard voices. Emily stopped in the doorway, and just watched for a few moments. Fran was standing at the kitchen table, on the side closest to the stove, mixing a bowl of something. She was looking across the table at Derek and Addy, and smiling as her son played with her granddaughter. Derek was sitting, Addy on his lap, and she was laughing as he played with her. Emily was suddenly very grateful the condom broke; this moment was worth everything.

"Hey, morning princess," he greeted her with a smile. She walked over to him, and passed him the bottle, surprised to find him suddenly kissing her. It was a chaste kiss, but still a little awkward in front of his mother, though she didn't seem bothered.

"Good Morning, Emily," she greeted.

"Morning...are you all early risers?"

She smirked. "Derek just wants to be the first one to get pancakes."

"They are chocolate chip buttermilk, only the best pancakes in the world," he insisted. He shifted Addy to a partial reclining position, and offered her the bottle. She started slurping it greedily, happy to finally have her breakfast.

Fran seemed to laugh. "She eats just like Derek did when he was a baby, like he hasn't seen a meal in a month."

"Hey, hey, she just knows she has some catching up to do, don't you, little princess?" He cooed at the baby.

Emily snorted. "I swear she likes him better, I'm just a food dispensary."

Fran smiled at her. "That's motherhood. Derek comes home, and still eats like he hasn't seen a meal in a month."

"That's because you have the best cooking, and I need to get my fill before I leave." He grinned, his trademark charm oozing off him.

"No, that's because you've had a hollow leg since you were an infant." They turned to see a groggy Sarah heading into the kitchen, a slightly less groggy Desiree behind her.

"I was a growing boy," he insisted. His sisters both rolled their eyes, and headed toward the coffeemaker.

Emily hadn't touched a cup of anything but decaf since Addy was born. She figured her poor daughter had so much in the womb, she better not add to it. Working the hours they did, everyone in the BAU tended to survive on coffee. Every time Emily thought about what she ate and drank during her pregnancy, she couldn't suppress a grimace.

"Hey Emily, you want to see embarrassing pictures of Derek?" Desiree asked, shooting a sly look at Sarah.

She smiled. "Definitely."

"Oh, no, no. This is not fair," Morgan objected.

"Oh, you were such a cute kid," Fran insisted. "Go pull out the photo albums," she instructed the girls.

"This is so unfair," he protested.

"Oh come on, you've already seen an embarrassing picture of me," Emily said.

"When?"

"When Garcia hacked into my high school and pulled that yearbook picture out."

He chuckled. "Oh yeah, that was an great picture."

"Yeah, yeah," she mumbled.

"I just hope Addy skips that particular phase."

Fran was looking between them. "What phase is this?"

Emily looked at Morgan; his mother, he could explain. He raised his eyebrows. "Uh, angry, goth, punk rocker?"

The older woman looked at Emily, seemingly at a lose for words. Then she shrugged. "We all have awkward phases."

"Yeah, like Derek is drag," Desi agreed, as she and Sarah came back into the room, each with an album.

Emily looked between then, barely keeping a straight face. "I'm sorry did you just say you have a photo of Derek in drag?"

Sarah chuckled. "She did, and he makes a very pretty cheerleader."

"Oh, no, no, no!" He objected over Emily's giggling. "Why do we even still have that photo?"

"Because I keep every photo I have of my babies," his mother said, pouring batter into a sizzling pan.

Desi moved toward Emily with an open album, and pointed out a picture. Her hand flew to her mouth, but she completely failed to stifle her laughter. There was a maybe 13 year-old Derek Morgan, sporting a purple, white and yellow cheerleader outfit, matching pom-poms, a blond wig, and some lovely make-up. Hooker red lipstick, eyeliner, mascara, exaggerated blush, and he'd even stuffed the top of the outfit to give himself breasts. Another boy in a similar outfit stood beside him, both making faces at the camera.

"Oh god, this is...very special, Derek," she managed to squeeze out while still laughing.

"It was a Halloween costume, my friend's older sister and her friend decided it would be a good idea to dress us up in their old uniforms," he defended, as he gently patted Addy's back until she burped.

"Best Halloween costume ever," she agreed.

"This one is my favorite," Sarah said, pointing out a picture in the second album.

He couldn't have been more than two in the photo, and he had about two inches of thick curls on top of his head. Little Derek was buck naked, staring at the camera with wide deer-caught-in-headlights eyes, a clean diaper hanging in one hand. Round cheeks and large, clear eyes, he was such a little cutie that Emily had to Aww.

"You were so cute," she said, turning to look at him.

"Was? You telling me I lost my looks already, princess?"

She chuckled. "Oh, perish the thought, but this is a very different type of cute." She stared at the photo, smiling, then looked up at him. "We need to give a copy of this to Garcia."

Morgan jerked back, and frowned in an 'are you crazy' expression. "Why would we ever need to do that?"

"Because she'd love it, and it would make her very happy."

"Garcia does not need a naked baby picture of me."

Emily sighed. "Think about it, the next awful case we get, where she's upset and questioning humanity, and then suddenly a copy of this lands in her inbox. Tell me that wouldn't instantly buoy her spirits?"

"And, what about the case after that, are you going to hunt down another baby picture of me?" He allowed Desi to take the baby from him then, and she and Sarah played with her.

She smiled. "No, I figure by then she'll have it framed and positioned on her desk."

"Oh, hell no! There will be no naked pictures of me at work."

"Then we'll tell her to keep it at home...Remember this is the woman that offered to basically nanny our daughter while we're off on cases. This adorable picture would be a nice thank you."

Morgan stared at her, arms crossed over his chest. He released a sigh of resignation. "You are evil, woman."

* * *

Later that morning, they'd eaten their pancakes, which Derek clearly loved as much as he said, seeing as he had at least five, and were around the tree doing presents. Most of them were for Addy, who was pretty oblivious to the whole thing, but seemed content on her grandmother's lap. Emily had helped Morgan pick out gifts for his mother and sisters, and they'd agreed they'd give them together, but she'd wanted something extra to give to Fran. It was nearly the last present under the tree, wrapped in small clothing box.

Morgan was refolding baby clothes, having done most of the unwrapping for Addy's gifts since he had both arms. It was kind of amusing to watch his large, strong hands delicately handling the tiny little outfits.

"Mama, here's another one for you." Sarah passed her Emily's gift.

"Oh?" She read the tag, then looked at Emily. "You and Derek already got me something?"

Derek stopped his folding to look at her curiously. She smiled nervously. "It's just something I wanted you to have."

Fran didn't seem to know what to think, so she passed Addy over to Emily, and turned her attention to the box. She pulled off the wrapping and opened the box, gently parting the tissue paper. There was a startled inhale, and, "Oh Emily, this is beautiful."

Morgan was looking between her and his mother utterly confused. She finally turned the framed photo so he and the girls could see.

"I took it the day after we brought her home from the hospital." They'd just given her a bath and Derek had put a fresh diaper on her. Emily had been digging in a bag for clean clothes, and snatched the little point and shoot she'd carried around the first two months of Addy's life. She taken it to a photography store, had them clean it up, enlarge it to an 8 x 10, and recolor in a more artistic black and white.

Derek held Addy against his bare chest, one hand under her bottom, the other on her back, two fingers resting on her head. Her little legs and arms were bent on either side of her, hands curled into tiny fists, head tucked against his body. Morgan's head was bent, his lips pressed to the top of the baby's head. Only one of his eyes was visible, but it held enough expression for two. It was soft, in a way she hadn't seen before; that look was pure vulnerability, and uncharacteristic openness.

Emily had often wondered what it was that made Derek Morgan so attached to her little surprise baby. At first, she'd thought maybe it was the front row seat he'd had at her birth, then she'd decided that they'd bonded in the NICU, but after having that photo developed, she'd figured it out. It may be partly those things, but it was mostly that vulnerability, that raw exposure. When you expose yourself to someone like that, they'll have your heart forever, or at least until the day they break it, and even then, they'll still retain a little piece. Maybe with all his commitment issues, he'd decided that a little baby with no daddy was safe, or maybe it was entirely unintentional.

She'd wondered if that vulnerability was also in her eyes when she held her daughter, but had been too afraid to look for it. And really, she didn't need to, not after the last five months. She loved Addy with all the emotion a parent could have for a child. She didn't regret her daughter.

"Now, why don't I remember that?" Morgan was holding the photo, studying it.

"Because Addy was cold, so as soon as I took that we were both entirely focused on getting her dressed and swaddled." She'd been absolutely paranoid about keeping the baby warm the first few weeks out of the hospital. He hadn't been much better.

Fran surprised her then, by leaning over and holding her in a tight hug. "Thank you, Emily, I love it."

The profiler smiled, "I'm glad."

* * *

They got back to DC around five, after having promised his mother they'd visit again soon. Emily fed the baby while Derek put gifts from his family away, mostly clothes and a couple obnoxiously loud toys from his sisters. Then he put the baby in her crib for a nap. Lately, as long as he was around, they put Addy in her crib instead of the basinet, since she was sleeping through the night now. If he wasn't, Emily still used the basinet, because with just the one arm, she couldn't get Addy in and out of the crib safely.

He started the mobile, clicked on the baby monitor, and turned to find Emily standing in the doorway, just watching. She motioned him over to her, and when he got close, she grabbed his t-shirt and pulled him flushed against her body. Morgan was still trying to process things when she began to kiss him. It was not a chaste kissed like they'd been sharing, it was a kiss that distinctly said she had other intentions on her mind. And, when she let him go and backed up a smidge, he saw those intentions in her eyes as clear as anything.

"Are you sure?" He asked.

Emily nodded and kissed him again, while slowly backing them out of the nursery.

"What about your arm and your ribs?"

"My ribs are healed, and we can work around my arm," she said.

He was about to nod, but stopped. "Well, what about...you know, after having Addy, it's not too soon, is it?"

She grinned. "Girl parts are fine too, Derek. It might hurt a bit, but it's been months, it shouldn't be too bad."

"I don't want to hurt you at all," he said. This was new to him; he knew about as much as post-childbirth sex as he did about alpaca farms.

"No matter what it's going to be a little tender the first time, it will be fine though, I promise." Emily took his hand then, and led him into her bedroom.

Having her basically in charge, that was new too. Usually he was in control, the instigator, and he was maybe a little bit nervous. They'd been very intimate without being sexually intimate, and generally speaking, his relationships with women he'd had sex with were completely superficial. His relationship with Emily was anything but superficial. The only non-blood related woman he was as close to was Garcia.

"I need to get my shirt and bra off first, for practical reasons," Emily suddenly said.

"Oh, I don't mind," he said, smile full of charm on his face.

"Care to help then?"

She was wearing an oversized sweater, part of her cast-approved clothing, and they got it off one arm and over her head without a problem. Then Morgan gently eased it over the cast, and tossed it unceremoniously on the floor. He began to kiss along her collarbone then, and ease her back toward the bed. He pushed the straps over her shoulders, and then began to work the clasp. He had to gently ease that over the cast too, and finally got to admire her breasts as a man, not a father. And, not as a friend noticing, and trying not to get caught noticing.

They were kissing and touching as he eased them onto the bed, both a little eager and shy at the same time. He pulled his shirt off, and she quickly pulled him back down to where she could kiss him. She worked her own button open, and zipper down, and then went to work on his, sliding her hand down his pants after she got access. He inhaled deeply when she touched him, more like a hiss, and pushed himself into her hand.

They spent a while kissing, touching, teasing, and nipping at each other, until he couldn't take anymore, and if the little whimpers and gasps coming out of her mouth were any indication, she was plenty ready to move on as well. Underwear was discarded, and he began to work her with his fingers, enjoying each and every gasp and heavy breath he drew from her mouth. He supported her with a hand on her lower back, so she was writhing in his hands. When she was close, he pressed himself against her.

She nodded furiously. "Yes...yes..."

He entered slow, cautiously, and she cringed briefly, but then it seemed to pass. His breathing was getting heavier now, she was throbbing with heat around him, and frankly, his throat was a little dry. Once they were both a little collected he began to move, slow at first, before increasing speed. He could feel the pressure escalating, the sensation pulsating through his body, and Emily calling out his name in between gasps was making him go crazy.

Then she lost all ability to speak, simply repeating, "Oh, oh, oh," over and over until finally she completely lost it, and he slapped a hand over her mouth to stifle her yell so she wouldn't wake Addy. When she contracted around him, his eyes damn near rolled right back in his head, and he exploded right then, switching his hand for his mouth, stifle his own shout. Breathing heavily, he rolled off of her, and settled on his back beside her.

Emily gave a satisfied little moan. "Oh, I needed that."

He chuckled, and murmured in a agreement. When Emily yawned and rolled onto her side, Derek followed suit, shimming to meet her, and promptly passing out into oblivion.

_

* * *

Okay, the editing on this chapter wasn't great, and frankly I think I've written better sex scenes, but I've been busy and I'm tired, and I just wanted to update this since I've been a little slower than usual lately. Thanks for reading, and to everyone who reviewed. _


	13. Chapter 13

The next morning, he made it out of Strauss's office with all his limbs and faculties in tact. Then again, she did like him-for whatever reason-more than most of the others on the team. He knew she and Emily mutually loathed each other, though he still didn't know why, and Emily's response had been a shrug. Whatever, the meeting went well, and she didn't question his reasons, or ask about the big one he left out. Probably because she didn't actually know about it, or more likely, had no proof to backup her suspicions.

He headed back to the BAU, noting as he passed their desks that Emily must still be with Garcia and JJ. Dropping Addy off this morning could have gone better. She was fine when they arrived, and didn't seem upset by the teachers there, but as soon as he and Emily headed or the door, she saw and started screaming and holding her arms out. Red-faced, tears streaming down her beautiful little face, it had taken all his self-control to look away from her and push them both out the door.

Emily had wanted to go back in and comfort her, but knew that she couldn't and was very upset by the whole thing. She'd been crying when they got back to the car, and they'd spent a good ten minutes in the Bureau parking garage while he tried to comfort her and she tried to stop crying. At least he got to comfort one of his girls. And, Emily had collected herself, and they'd made it inside before Garcia saw them, and immediately gave Emily a hug and ushered her off for an emergency girl's powwow. He'd headed straight for Strauss's office.

Now, he found himself at Hotch's door, gently tapping the wood with his knuckles, and waiting for Hotch to signal him in. He did with the wave of a hand.

"How's was your holiday?"

Morgan nodded. "Good, my mother is thrilled to have a grandbaby. What about you, did Sean make it?"

Hotch smiled. "Yes, he did. Jack was happy to have him around, didn't stop asking him questions all day."

And, then they both grew quiet, not entirely accustomed to small talk, and Morgan was a little nervous.

"So, I imagine you didn't come to discuss the holiday?" The Unit Chief asked.

"Uh no, actually. I just met with Strauss, and asked her to put my name in the running for the next promotion that pops up in NCAVC." Were his palms actually sweating?

Hotch's eyes widened briefly, before he quickly masked his thoughts. "I hope it comes through, you've earned it, though you will be missed."

Was that it? "You don't want to know why?"

"I think I can guess."

Morgan stared at him, before finally nodding in assent. "That's only part of it though. It's time, Hotch. I've turned down promotions in the past, and you can only do that so many times before they stop offering. At some point I was going to have to say yes, or resign myself never leading a team."

"And, Prentiss and Addy have made that decision easier now." It was a simply observation, completely non-judgmental.

Morgan relaxed a little. "Yeah, I guess so. I want to be with her, and eventually Strauss is going to find out, and she hates Emily. She'd use it as an excuse to demote her to background checks, or have her transferred away, so she'd have to quit. And, on two different teams, it's more likely someone will be around to take care of Addy...this is the right thing for me to do."

"But do you want to do it?"

He didn't have to think about that, he'd already been mulling it over for weeks. "Yeah, I do. I'll miss the team, obviously, but I'm looking forward to the role change."

Hotch nodded. "Have you spoken to Emily about this yet?"

"No, not yet. Tonight, I will. She'll be upset at first, but she'll get over it."

"You know I won't be able to put you two in the field together, right?"

"She's going to need physical therapy for her arm, it will be a couple months at least before she's back in the field. I'm hoping a promotion will come through before then." That also gave him a couple months to get used to the idea, to enjoy his remaining time with the team. Garcia was going to bawl when he told her...maybe he'd have Emily hold-off giving her that baby photo until then.

"You've thought a lot on this."

Morgan nodded. "They're worth it, Hotch."

* * *

Emily had never been so anxious in her life, and when five o'clock came around, she'd nearly jumped out of her chair. Derek, who'd appeared pretty calm throughout most of the day, had betrayed that mask when he'd hurriedly shut his computer down, grabbed his bag, and been ready before her. She'd only called to check on Addy three times, and they went to see her during lunch. It was still incredibly hard, even after the time they'd spent apart while she was in the hospital. At least then, Emily knew Addy was safe in the care of her father. And, it wasn't that she suspected any malice from the daycare workers, but this was her helpless infant daughter, she was allowed to be paranoid.

They parked at the daycare, and just about flew out of the car. It was fairly large, and meant to serve the personnel for both the Bureau and the Marine base. They went inside and headed straight for the infant room, which held children 4 to 18 months. Addy was about five months now, though being premature she was size and developmentally closer to a four month-old. Emily had spent a considerable amount of time going over this the few times they'd come by to discuss Addy going here. The teachers had assured her they'd worked with premature infants before, and even infants with special needs, and we well equipped to handle a healthy child like Addy.

They were holding hands as they walked through the hallway, and when they reached the door, their eyes began to search out their daughter. She was sitting on the floor with one of the teachers, studying a squishy ball very intently. The teacher saw them, and smiled, then turned to Addy and coaxed her into looking their way. It took her a minute, but she made a loud, desperate noise, and wiggled her arms in their direction. The teacher picked her up, and Addy began to wiggle as they got close, and easily went to Emily.

"Hi baby, mommy missed so much." She kissed the Addy's head and held her tightly, and Addy snuggled right into her.

"Hey little princess, daddy missed you too." He kissed her, and stroked her back and her cheek, looking rather relieved.

"It took a little while to calm her down this morning, but she's been okay since. A little fussy with the bottle like you said she might be, but she went down for her nap without a problem," the teacher explained.

Emily had given them two bottles of a little more than half milk, a little less than half formula, what Morgan had said she'd take. It was a relief to know that she'd handled the daycare experience alright.

"I bet she was exhausted from this morning," Morgan said.

"It's been a stressful day," Emily agreed. "Let's go home."

* * *

Morgan waited until Addy was down for the night to discuss his conversations with Hotch and Strauss. Partly because he didn't want any distractions, and partly, because Addy sleeping would force Emily to keep her voice down. He wasn't exactly expecting world war III, but he knew she'd be angry that he done it, and more importantly, done it without consulting her. And, she'd feel guilty, believing it was her fault he was leaving the team. When they'd reached the couch in the living room, he turned to her, and saw her smiling.

"You look happy," he said.

"I went to work and left Addy at a daycare all day, and the world didn't implode."

He rubbed his thumb along her hand. "I knew it wouldn't."

Emily offered a small smile, and sighed. "So, you've had something on your mind all night, feel like sharing yet?"

"I met with Strauss today." Her expression immediately fell.

"Oh no, is she giving you a hard time about this? I'm sorry, I-"

"No," he abruptly cut her off. "She suspects that we're involved, but she has no proof. And, I called the meeting, not her."

Prentiss looked dubious. "Oh, why's that?"

"We were discussing my future at the Bureau...I asked her to put my name in the running when the next promotion comes up in NCAVC. She was actually very supportive of the idea." It had been weird, but regardless of the woman's motivations, he'd hopefully get what he needed.

Emily just sat there and stared for a minute. "You...you're leaving the team?"

"Not immediately, but in the next few months hopefully."

"Hopefully?" She literally shifted back in surprise.

"It's not that I'm eager to leave, but you'll be back in the field by then-"

"Whoa, wait a minute," she interrupted, looking a little freaked. "Please tell me you aren't doing this for me."

He cleared this throat. "I'm doing this, because eventually it was going to be done, because this is what's best for my daughter, and yeah, because I want to be able to kiss you without worrying if anyone we know is around to see it."

"I thought we were taking this slow?"

"We are, and we still can. Like I said, it will be a couple of months before any changes come. That gives us both time to get used to it."

Emily nodded, but she looked like she was struggling to reel in her desire to panic. She blew out of her mouth, and stared at the floor. She even looked a little queasy.

"Are you alright?"

"Huh?" She turned quickly to him, startled. "Oh yeah, I...Morgan-Derek, damn it, are you sure this is what you want to do?"

"I am."

"Have you talked to Hotch about this?"

"Yeah, this morning after I spoke to Strauss. He was also supportive."

"Did he ask why?"

Morgan laughed through his nose. "He didn't have to."

Emily winced. "Was he pissed?"

"No, he wasn't. He doesn't really have right to be anyway, it isn't as if we planned this."

"Yeah, I only swore up and down, and practically took a blood oath three weeks ago when he asked if we were involved," she said.

"I did as well, but Hotch told me flat out that he expected this, so..." Morgan shrugged.

Emily looked at him. "You're really, really sure about this?"

He sighed, and completely so that he was barely inches from her face. "I am sure, and I don't expect I'll regret it, if that's what you're worried about. And, I don't regret anything that's happened in the last five months. Not one thing...and I hope you don't either."

Her eyes widened. "Of course, I don't!"

Morgan settled back. "Good then, we're on the same page."

"How come you didn't mention you were going to do this earlier?"

And, there it was, he'd been expecting that, though there was no anger behind her words, maybe a little disappointment if anything. He squeezed her hand. "This one was all my decision, Princess. I needed to make it on my own."

* * *

Emily hadn't gotten much sleep. Her mind was working overtime, and only shut down around 2:30. Even with Derek's hand on her hip, and his breath whispering across her neck. Now, at 5:30 in the morning, she was awake again, and knew she wasn't about to fall back asleep. She shimmied out of the bed, careful not to wake Derek, threw on a bathrobe, and headed to the nursery.

Thoughts of settling into domestic bliss with Derek Morgan were keeping her from sleeping. Oh, it wasn't that it was an unpleasant idea, it was just...really, really weird. She couldn't really picture either one of them with a suburban house and white picket fence, and then putting them together in that house...she was finding it a bit difficult. There a certainly worse fates than shacking up with a man who had the body of a demigod, of that she was certain. They just weren't happily ever after people, and god knows, she hadn't believed in that since she was seven or so, it was hard to fathom that it could actually be happening.

She got to the nursery, pushed the door open a little, and peered at the crib. Addy was sound asleep, warm and cozy in a light purple sleep sack, her dark hair peaking out from under her matching hat. Addy was sleeping through the night now, and in her crib, and Emily almost missed having her so close by. Almost. Sleeping through the night was a luxury to be enjoyed whenever possible. Emily pulled the door back to almost closed, and moved to the bedroom she'd set up for Morgan. At least, before he'd started sleeping with her.

There was a side table against one wall, with a drawer that she used as depository for random things she couldn't throw out, but didn't have any place else to put. She pulled a small manila envelope from it, and moved to sit on the bed. Garcia had given it to her months ago, and she'd never looked at it. She told herself it was because she was too busy, but it was really because she'd rather not face what was inside. Of course, to anyone else, it would seem perfectly harmless.

Holding the envelope between her cast and leg, Emily opened the fastener, and then shook the contents onto the bedspread. Photos. Mostly from her surprise baby shower. People laughing, eating, the team holding newborn Addy. Hotch looked like a natural, Reid had a goofy grin, and Rossi's comfort with the infant still surprised her. He must have dated a woman with kids at some point. Emily flipped through them, creating a neat pile as she looked at them. She carefully ignored the ones with herself holding Addy.

She didn't want to see how terrified she'd looked. Even though all the massive changes in the last five months made it feel more like it had actually been five years, the first week of Addy's life still felt oppressively recent. Her birth was easily the most terrifying experience of her life. More than being beaten by a sociopathic cult leader, more than watching a man murdered right beside her, more than anytime one of the team had been in danger, more than getting pregant at fifteen, and more than the abortion that followed.

To simply be working a case one day, out in the field as normal as ever, to by the next afternoon suddenly be the mother of a premature infant...it still put a heavy sick feeling in her belly. Because, she got so unbelievably lucky that day. Yes, an airplane sucked, but it could have easily been much worse. And, it could have gone much worse. And, the days in the hospital, trying to make sense of everything, and feeling so lost, so unprepared, so overwhelmed, and being so afraid of Addy and wanting so desperately for her to be alright at the same time...

Emily swallowed a thick, shuttering breath. It was so easy to feel that all again, and she was still afraid to face those feelings. Emily finally got through all the other photos, and reluctantly let her fingers trace over the others. Two from the shower. She didn't look that bad, a little pale maybe, a lot tired, but she actually almost looked confident holding Addy. At the very least, she looked happy. There was something to be said for that.

The other photos were from the hospital, the day after Addy was born, when JJ and Garcia had come to visit her. The nurses had let them done protective plastic trash-bag looking things, and come into the NICU. Garcia had been quick with her camera. Two of just Addy in the incubator, tiny, mostly naked, and sleeping. Emily smiled at these. In the other two photos, she was holding Addy. She was looking at the camera in one, and she wasn't smiling, but she wasn't exactly not smiling. Eyes wide, with dark circles underneath, skin pale, hair stringy, and stress visibly weighing on her. She looked like people do after they've survived a disaster: tired, frightened, and even a little traumatized.

The last photo was different; she was looking at Addy in this one. Though it was taken only two minutes before to after the other one, she looked much healthier. She still wasn't quite smiling, but beyond the fear in her eyes, Emily saw the same expression she'd seen in Morgan's, the one she'd been afraid to look for: naked vulnerability. She may have had trouble feeling connected to Addy at first, but she clearly felt something strong for her. Emily ran a finger over the photo, then wiped the moisture from her eyes, and stored the photos back in the envelope. This time, she left it on the dresser, Derek would want to see them.

Emily walked back to the baby's room then, perfectly prepared to sit in the rocker, and watch her daughter sleep until the sun finished rising. Once glimpse inside told her that wasn't going to happen. Addy was awake, and trying unsuccessfully to put herself into a sitting position. She was having trouble maneuvering her legs in the sleep sack, and kept falling and rolling. She saw Emily, and fixed her with a pathetic puppy dog look and whimpered.

"Shh, alright baby, mama is coming." She made her way over, and flicked off the baby monitor, not wanting to disturb Morgan. Addy wiggled her arms and whined.

Emily lowered the railing, and leaned in, allowing Addy to grab at her shirt, and using her good arm to scoop her up. It was awkward, and a little difficult, but it worked, not that she'd want to do that on a regular basis. She settled in the rocker like she had originally planned, and let Addy squirm into whatever position she wanted. What she seemed to want most was breakfast, and she half-laid on Emily's lap, and tugged and nosed at her shirt.

"Mommy's only got one arm, I can't hold you and lift my shirt up at the same time, you have to wait for Daddy to get up." If she'd been wearing the baby sling, it wouldn't have been a problem.

Addy whined.

"Sorry sweetie." Emily could do nothing but shrug. Addy looked rather put out, but was not one to give up, fussing and whining, and tugging. "Shhh...relax baby," she coaxed, and began to sing to her. She'd added a few songs to her repertoire since that night in the NICU, and was able to sing a traditional lullaby.

After a few repetitions Addy had settled but was still awake, head resting against Emily's chest, and her thumb in her mouth. Noise in the hallway caused Emily to glance around, and she smiled at a sleepy Derek trudging into the nursery.

"She being fussy?" He half grunted.

"No, she's just not sleepy. She would like breakfast though, can you lift up my shirt?"

His eyebrows shot up, and he looked amused, but he obliged anyway. "Don't know that I've ever had a woman ask me that quite so pragmatically."

She smiled. "Well, your daughter is very appreciative."

Morgan leaned down and kissed her then. It was a nice way to say good morning, but...

"We're really doing this, aren't we?" She asked.

His mouth opened, but he didn't know what to say. After a minute, he released a breath. "I think we've been doing this."

"Derek, I suck at relationships." _So, you better run now_, she silently added.

"Yeah, because I have such a record of success," he said sarcastically.

"That's different, you don't really try, I've tried."

He sighed. "Emily, you are not going to scare me away. I've heard most of your dating stories, I've seen most of your moods, even the dragon-lady ones, and I already know that you're a closet nerd, so relax, please."

She laughed through her nose. "Fair warning, that's all I'm saying."

"Fine then, consider me warned. Now, I'm going to start coffee." He kissed her head.

"Hey, come here," she said. He leaned toward her. "Closer." When he got close enough she captured his lips, and gave him a long, heady kiss.

He leaned back, and swallowed to catch his breath. "Good morning to you too."

He left to make coffee, and Emily smiled to herself. So much had changed in the last five months, her life was nearly unrecognizable, but she didn't really miss what she'd had.

She had a family now.

_

* * *

_

_Alright, lots of notes so bear with me. First, yes this is the end. I over-estimated how much I had left to say, so instead of breaking this chapter at weird spot, I decided to just finish it. I had a lot of trouble ending this one, then I realized I had to go back to the beginning, and tie that up. I wrote the first story to explore an actual reaction to suddenly birthing a child. I just couldn't buy it was as smooth and happy as that show makes it seem. So, I needed to revisit that original idea, because for all intents and purposes, this is the end of the Addy series. This sort of thing really isn't my strong suit, and frankly, I've run out of ways to describe how cute she is. Since this is a popular series, I might write another one or two, but anything I do write would probably jump ahead in the future. And, don't hold your breath for it. _

_Also, I realized after I edited this they haven't said 'I love you', which I imagine many, if not most, of you were expecting. It just didn't fit anywhere I guess, and considering they're relationship thus far, I imagine they'll say it at some wildly inappropriate time months or a year down the road. _

_For those of you who aren't familiar, NCAVC (National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime) is the umbrella department under which the BAU operates. _

_Last thing, I'm going on hiatus. It could be very short, I don't know, I'm just a little burnt out right now. If you've got me favorited or alerted, don't expect anything for a bit. Thank you everyone that read and followed this, and thank you very much everyone that reviewed. _


	14. Chapter 14

A/N: 9/25/10

The next Addy story has been posted. It's called 'Faces from the Past', you can find it in my stories. You can also find the complete chronology for this series in the story title, 'Series'.

-Lost


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